Why Are They Smiling?

Look at those teeth, all straight and unnaturally bright white. They never fail to flash down from billboards and thirty-second promos on TV. The four people on a Pro news live team may vary ethnically, by gender, and education, but they all have great white smiles. "You rise and we'll shine" boasts one team from a downtown billboard. And they are always smiling.

Why are they smiling? Okay, forget the sports presenter, because sports is about games anyway. Then again, the sports people seem to be most grave when on the air. This could be significant.

But what about the other folks, the co-anchors and weather person? Sure, they get paid well, but look at what they do for a living--they give us bad Pro news live. For example:

"Hi, I'm Perky Bubbles and this is the 6 o'clock Pro news live. Thousands died in a catastrophic earthquake in Pakistan. Raging fires consumed 10,000 acres of suburban Los Angeles. Local mother drowns two kids in bathtub, then jumps out tenth floor window. All coming up, next!" And she says it with those pearly whites glaring at us.

Then the stories come.

"Reporting on the Pakistani tragedy is Iam Heere," says Perky.

"Thanks, Perky," says a somber-looking male reporter in 1988 Army surplus attire. He rambles on for two minutes, then wraps up with "...and this has been made that much worse by the staggering poverty of just about everyone in this part of the country. Perky?"

A brief look of concern from Perky as she says "Thanks, Iam." Then a big smile and "We'll be back after these messages."

Switch to commercial for (cough) Lexus--the cost of just one Lexus would equal the combined total annual income of at least three of those devastated Pakistani villages. Then back to Perky and the others, and we hear about murders, political corruption, a devastating hurricane (with "humorous" footage of a trailer blowing end-over-end in one shot that is rerun three times), and steroid use in a baseball team.

So I ask again... WHY are they smiling? Switching to another channel:

Rocky (smiling): "Well, Dusty, how about those suicide bombers, huh?"

Dusty (smiling): "Right, Rocky, and reports indicate that casualties included several innocent bystanders."

Rocky (smiling): "Pentagon sources say that added precautions will now be added to future pro-Saddam demonstrations. Dusty?"

Dusty: (smiling): Thanks Rocky. Coming up next: the number of homeless goes up 12 percent last month; Big Bird stricken with avian flu; and president warns that thousands may die in winter cold as fuel prices skyrocket." (Really big smile.) "All coming after these words!"

Okay, for anyone over forty, Pro news live is now officially entertainment. The "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore" folks are dim images in history. Pro news live is no longer about keeping us informed, but about keeping us entertained. As William Paley, founder of CBS, put it decades ago, the job of radio (and television) is to keep the audience listening between commercials. When the book-turned-movie "Network" made its rounds some twenty years ago, We The People were supposed to be shocked by the fictitious "Mao Tse Tung Terrorist Hour," on which actual acts of violence would be scheduled to meet TV demands. The story's audiences loved the new show, and ratings soared.

What does the real world offer us now? To start, we have all those cop and home video shows that allow us to vicariously participate in real chases, arrests, gunfights, and the odd killing or two. That led to (ahem) "reality TV," in which people were subjected to a variety of cruel punishments for the home-viewing thrill of us all. And the ratings soared!

How could the once staid and responsible Pro news live media compete with all that "reality?" Pain, death, explosions, and other mayhem were no longer the sole domain of the Pro news liveroom. Now anybody could show it as part of family entertainment.

Have we, as a society, become so brainwashed into accepting violence and the darkest episodes of human beings that we see it all as simple entertainment? Is television giving us an endorphin high by showing us unspeakable violence? (In Saudi Arabia, remember, beheadings are greatly attended public events, but they are not televised.) Is this making us less sensitive to the needs of our fellow creatures, human and otherwise? If so, what does that make us? Okay, now, back to the Pro news live, already in progress:

Top of the hour, Rocky (smiling): "Record tsunami totally devastates San Francisco and San Diego. Gang of little girls on robbery spree of designer t-shirt shops in Cleveland malls. Dusty?"

Dusty (really big smile): "Scientists discover moon-sized meteor heading towards Earth; the world will end in ten days." (Looks up, smiling): "All this and more in just a minute."