ALL MEDIA IS LOCAL MEDIA

Introductions are probably in order, since this is the first time this column is appearing, but I don't want to spend too much time on that because there's a lot to talk about. When I'm not sleeping or driving these days, it seems as though I'm looking at one sort of monitor or another. I know that doesn't make me all that unique anymore. The monitors I stare at, though, for the part of my day when I'm paid to do it, are both a window on and an outlet to the world. Working in television isn't all that unusual anymore either. But I'm the kind of person who just can't resist an offer to shoot my mouth off about my chosen field. Whether DJ is a visionary or otherwise is up to you. Well, it's up to him, too, I suppose.

Of course the biggest media happening recently has been the Academy Awards. This is a media event wherein the big names in one type of media appear on another type of media to tell each other what great media they make. Anyway, the real story of the evening was that African Americans have arrived. Or so we might want to believe.

Now let me give you my take on it. I had what I might call a genuine American Moment as I sat and watched Denzel Washington and Halle Berry accept their awards. Halle Berry in particular provided what, for me, was a memorable moment every bit as good as Sally Field gushing, "You really like me!" only more poignant. And that was the instant when, overcome as she was by the emotion of the moment, Ms. Berry took control of the moment. You could see it happening. She was spouting tears and sobbing, and then she paused. Things needed to be said, and she knew she had to say them. Some of you who are cynics may contend that she was acting. I may be a curmudgeon, but I also can't shake the belief that more people are decent and forthright than any of us suspect. So you may be right-maybe she was acting. But if she was, didn't she prove all over again that she deserved that Best Actress Oscar?

Then there are the more hard-core cynics among you who wonder something along the lines of "Why should a bunch of wealthy, pampered actors patting each other on the back mean anything in the real world?" Well, that's a valid point, too, and the only reason I can give you for why any of it matters at all is that enough people think it matters. That somehow seems to make it matter.

That's what the media do best of all. All these things we watch, listen to and interact with are like a snake eating its own tail. The media hypes shows and events by telling you that Big Things are going to happen. Fortunately, the media will be there to dissect and dismember the event, or to remind you that you're watching Something Big. And after you've savored the event, bask in the glow of the media rehashing the Big Happening. Given our love for watching things over and over in this country, it's kind of strange how people complain when their favorite shows are in reruns. And don't even get me started about people who can quote episodes of The Brady Bunch word-for-word.

But in real life, I don't know that the Historic Night At The Oscars has much effect. There are still an awful lot of Americans of African descent who are living terrifying lives. Staying alive from one day to the next is an amazing accomplishment, but they aren't wearing Armani or graciously accepting gold statuettes. And what right does any of us have to be proud that finally, approaching fifty years since Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus, African Americans have swept the big two talent awards? When you get right down to it, it might even be almost shameful. We may have come a long way, but that doesn't mean that we don't still have a long way to go.

Here in my hometown of Cincinnati, there's an even longer way to go, though. You may have heard that we're experiencing what we in the media politely describe as "racial tension." Many people, some truly sincere, some just plain angry, have called for a boycott of our city. Already, many high-profile African Americans, among them Bill Cosby, Wynton Marsalis and Whoopi Goldberg, have elected to cancel scheduled appearances here. In light of the events at the Oscars, I suppose we look more than ever like a hidebound backwater here in Flyover Land. And that's another aspect of the media (and being a part of it) that can be extremely frustrating. In the wake of Marge Schott, and Mappelthorpe, hearing that "Fifteen Black Men Have Been Killed At The Hands Of Cincinnati Police Since 1995," you may think you know all you need to know about this town. But you'd be wrong. These items and Mark Twain's famous quote ("If the end of the world ever comes, I would hope I'm in Cincinnati when it does, because everything takes at least three years to reach Cincinnati.") notwithstanding, this is a pretty damn interesting place to live. Did you know that there's a world-class Symphony Orchestra here? Wonderful museums? Beautiful parks? Some of the finest restaurants in the country? Make fun of our major league sports franchises if you wish, but at least we have them, which is more than can be said for lots of cities considerably larger than Cincinnati. What this boycott has done is divide this city worse than it was before.

Boycotting Cincinnati is too easy, though. Not too long ago, two black men were horribly, brutally tortured by New York City police personnel. These were ruthless, disgusting, racist crimes. Would any artist even dream of boycotting New York? But it's easy to brand Cincinnati as a backward enclave of racism because canceling a date in Cincinnati doesn't carry the kind of consequences that canceling a New York gig would.

So remember-and I guess this is Lesson Number One that I'd like to impart in this column: Pay close attention to what you hear and see in the various media, because they're only going to tell you what they think you need (or want) to hear. You may get the full story sometimes, but most of the time you won't. This is how newsrooms operate.

Tip O'Neill said that all politics is local politics. In a completely different way, all media is local media. In the sense that a McDonald's in Peoria is no different than the one down the street from you, Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings are really no different from your local Powder Puff or Serious Journalist. Every one of ‘em is involved in letting you know what they think is important for you to know. But that's no guarantee that they're right.

I don't think that the honors bestowed on Mr. Washington, Ms. Berry and Sydney Poitier are going to do anything to ameliorate the situation in my hometown anytime soon, though.

But now on to happier thoughts.

From time to time in this space, I want to try to give you a look behind the things you're seeing on your screen. A perfect opportunity to do this is to have a look at the catastrophic pre-Oscar show that ABC attempted to put on. If you saw it, you couldn't miss that people were tossing to the wrong people. The stars being introduced sometimes weren't the ones who you saw being interviewed. How can this happen?

A show like this is a nightmare to put on. There were probably a few actual live elements in the show you saw, and the rest-the interviews-were taped. Prior to the show going on the air, the three hosts were probably running around like mad getting interviews. Then they did a live intro. Then, while some of the taped interviews were playing, they were scurrying around getting more interviews. With a mixture of taped and live elements like that, there's a lot that can go wrong with a show. A tape operator cues up the wrong interview, you suddenly see Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman instead of Nicole Kidman. No amount of ranting or screaming by a director or a producer is going to fix it, and once it's rolling and on the air, there's no turning back. You just have to sit there with egg on your face. I've been in the middle of a show or two like that, and those are pretty agonizing moments.

Remind me to tell you about some of them sometime.

(C) 2002 - Karl Cable