Because nobody ever bothers to check up here, me included: I noticed I made a major mistake: I forgot something in last week's diary. Something called...
...the damn header. Help me, people. Remind me next time.
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Re: June 17, 1994
I’ve raved here before about ESPN Films’ documentary series “30 for 30”, and I will do so here again. I’ve said that most of the ones I’ve watched to this point were great. However, tonight’s was as great as I expected it, and I’ve been anticipating this episode for months.
Tonight’s doc featured the events that led to, and occurred on, June 17th, 1994. If you have no memory of the date, the headline that sticks out is that date was the night of the infamous slow-speed chase of the white Ford Bronco that O.J. Simpson, who was supposed to turn himself in earlier that day for charges of murdering his ex-wife Nicole and Ron Goldman, was hiding in the back of while A.C. Cowlings drove on.
The obvious is that day was chock full of other sports news that was obliterated in the wake of the O.J. coverage; the opening of the 1994 FIFA World Cup in Chicago; the parade for the Rangers and subsequent Game 5 of the NBA Finals, and the final appearance in the U.S. Open for Arnold Palmer. The bigger context that I saw, however, is that date was the impetus for what we see now in modern media, in that all news was obliterated by a celebrity crime/tragedy story as it played out.
In other words, there was only one cable news source in which to turn to for any live coverage then, and that was CNN. All other coverage was done by the classic over-the-air networks, to the point where NBC News had to break in several times during NBC Sports’ telecast of the NBA Finals to cover the O.J. Chase. What was the eventual upshot?
Within two years time, there was a dedicated cable channel airing live courtroom appearances nationwide—including the Simpson trial—and two 24-hour news channels popped up out of nowhere—MSNBC (formerly America’s Talk), and the infamous Fox News Channel. By the 1996 presidential election, we had four 24-hour news channels, three national sports networks (ESPN, Fox, and CNNSI), and a fledgling internet presence for all of them.
When you think about it, what’s really changed? These cable news nets are still drawn to car chases now as the traditional networks were then. Except now, we get trifles like…Balloon Boy in Colorado, or The Celebrity Breakup of the Day. And don’t get me started on the punditry, or I’ll have to forgo the CraigyFerg Highlights and elevate this to a Meta diary. You don’t want that. Especially now.
My point in all this is simple. If you really want to get a sense of how our media got to where it is today—the gutter—go to Amazon or iTunes or DVR the replay of this documentary and watch. There is no narrator, no interviews, no one to walk you through the context. But President Clinton makes an appearance—he opened the World Cup in Chicago with Oprah. I digress, but…if you watch how all these other events that would probably gather headlines on their own, if not for the specter of O.J.’s drama being omnipresent in it all, you can see exactly how our media operates, and in a sense, dies on that day. It’s stunning, and yet happened so quick, we had no clue of it at the time it was going on.
Tonight on the Late Late CraigyFerg Show: Tim Allen, no longer grunting, but starring in "Toy Story 3", and actress Saffron Burrows.
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I mentioned Ice Cube's 30 for 30 deal last month, and of course, here he is on CraigyFerg, promoting "Are We There Yet" on TBS.
And for balance, here's Stan Lee.