The Media Presents: Shock Value

This week mainstream broadcast media hit an all-time low as they resorted to intense shock therapy to soothe viewers. This season, the Oprah Winfrey Show had a plan to outright decimate the competition and she has pulled out all the stops. Each week, she has scored one exclusive after another and just when you thought she couldn’t surprise us again, she does. This past week Oprah broadcast the first and only interview with Charla Nash. Charla is not a scientist, inventor, teacher, or even a movie star. Charla is known to the public as the woman who was mauled by a chimp earlier this year.

Networks brought us this story as it fit the criteria for news that the public will tune-in for. It is a story that is ripe for the movies. “Woman attacked by friend’s pet chimp.” If you remember, the media jumped at the chance to bring us the story of Siegfried and Roy being attacked by one of their famed white tigers, Monticort. We, salivating over the juicy details, couldn’t wait to see Roy Horn revealed after his mauling. This is now the norm. While Oprah may have justified the interview by bringing us Charla’s story of survival, the show’s producers had to have known that this would be a ratings coup. After all, Oprah did tell us that paparazzi and other photographers have been hovering, waiting to score the first picture of Charla’s face. That’s what we wanted to see, her face.

Yes, Oprah always manages to ask many of the right questions and those that tend to pull at our heartstrings. There’s always that element, but she brought us the face that we didn’t need to see. I recognize Charla as a survivor. She endured an unthinkable and unimaginable horror that no one should live to experience and it is her story, but Oprah did capitalize on it. No matter how many ways you slice the pie, the bottom line is that broadcast TV is about ratings, which translate into dollars. We are a society that thrives on violence and gore.

After Oprah’s interview and “the big reveal,” news stations and networks around the country raced to broadcast the image with the rehearsed disclaimer, “The images you are about to see are graphic.” That’s just like the “Parental Discretion Advised” sticker that adorns CD covers and doesn’t have any effect on buying habits. It’s just part of the culture now, that we expect to hear and see things that are profane and graphic in nature.

Determined not to be outdone, ABC’s 20/20 followed suit and broadcast a story of domestic violence between two young lovers. The relationship ended with the young woman being shot in the face at close range. The reporters brought us the story of a love gone sour and gave us the gruesome details of the incident that left a young high school student without her jaw and much of her face. The bright spot is that dedicated, talented surgical teams worked overtime to give this girl back her face. What would it look like? That’s what was going to draw in the viewers.

ABC didn’t disappoint its viewers.The network did reveal the young woman’s severely distorted face. While hers was a story of strength and survival, like Charla Nash, I doubt that viewers would have tuned in if they weren’t guaranteed a ring side seat for the visual, no matter how disturbing. We are a nation of disposable people. Just like a boxing match, our society loves to watch the pain and suffering of others.

While broadcasters may try to classify these as stories of strength and survival meant to educate and motivate, the real motivation is ratings. The good stories are less attractive and, therefore, not at the forefront of the news lineup. Networks have become rich off the pain and suffering of people and we keep asking for more. The broadcast standard is below the belt, and it’s time for us to rise above that. I think we are better than that ,and when we start demanding better, we will get better.