Focus On Footage

By: Matthew Felling
Topics: Media Issues

(CBS)

Hate to break it to you, but you're not going to get the tried-and-true examples of media "wretched excess" critique here today.

Too easy. If that's what you're in the mood for, why don't you try here or here.

Nah, today we're looking at the Curious Case of Andrew Meyer, the University of Florida student who was tasered at a John Kerry event yesterday. As of this writing, it's been covered in 502 different news Web sites – or at least the news-related sites that Google News steers people towards – including the . (Don't know about you, but the AGI is the source I turn to when American college students are electrocuted by the police.)

And yes, truth be told, it's posted prominently on the CBSNews.com homepage.

According to the Associated Press story:

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - A University of Florida student was Tasered and arrested after trying angrily and repeatedly to ask U.S. Senator John Kerry about the 2004 election and other subjects during a campus forum. Tuesday morning, a judge ordered the student released from jail on his own recognizance.
Videos of Monday's incident posted on several Web sites show officers pulling Andrew Meyer, 21, away from the microphone after he asks Kerry about impeaching President Bush and whether he and Bush were both members of the secret society Skull and Bones at Yale University.

But rather than have this be a piece about Media Overkill, it's more a post about how the existence of video transforms a lower-case story into a higher-case STORY. In the case of some knuckleheads online, video alone makes them a story. And it's a phenomenon that completely predates YouTube, though YouTube has definitely ratcheted it up.

Footage made high school hazing a national crisis back in 2003.

Footage forced Trent Lott to step down at Senate Majority Leader.

Footage took down an entrenched southern incumbent Senator.

Footage makes mini-furry celebrities out of squirrels and bears.

Footage made Danny DeVito almost relevant there for a day or two last year.

And these are just the first to come to mind.

In 21st Century MediaLand, there needs to be a new threshold for what constitutes 'news.' Once primarily used to support a newsworthy story, footage is now being used as a substitute for newsworthiness itself. Let's take the Kerry/Taser story. It's basically a college prank played on a former presidential candidate, maybe amounting to a 2 or 3 on a news merit scale from 1 to 10. But add the goofy video and it gets upgraded to a 6 or 7. News editors or producers shouldn't allow the mere existence of footage to break the newsworthiness barrier.

No, we haven't quite gotten to the point where uploading video of a tree falling in the woods becomes news – "Look! It made a sound!" Not yet.

But if there hadn't been video of the taser event to carpetbomb the cable networks with… there's no way this story is any more than a two sentence mention in a wire copy story.

Ironically enough, the AP story ends with a description of Andrew Meyer's personal website:

The site also has what is called a "disorganized diatribe" attributed to Meyer that criticizes the Iraq war, the news media for not covering the conflict enough and the American public for paying too much attention to celebrity news.

Congrats, Andrew. You, your behavior and your footage has ended up derailing the news media from covering the stories you find more important.

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by memekiller September 19, 2007 12:47 AM EDT: lcavanagh, Kerry tried to answer each of Andrew''s questions, and Andrew cut him off, and was still trying as the cops took him down. I don''t see how Kerry misbehaved at all, except in the same naiveful way he thought he could rise above the SBVs by leaving it to the media to do their jobs. Never a wise move.

Taking the high road with dorks is like fighting a bully with passive resistance.

If your strategy is to get your nose so bloody, he feels sorry for you and you become friends, then get ready for the same disappointment Kerry had in 2004.; Reply to this comment


by lcavanagh September 18, 2007 11:46 PM EDT: John Kerry acted disgracefully, his total lack of concern for this kid''s treatment shows just the kind of man we could have had in the White House.; Reply to this comment


by lcavanagh September 18, 2007 11:44 PM EDT: John Kerry acted disgracefully, his total lack of concern for this kid''s treatment shows just the kind of man we could have had in the White House.; Reply to this comment


by shingles1 September 18, 2007 11:14 PM EDT: "Congrats, Andrew. You, your behavior and your footage has ended up derailing the news media from covering the stories you find more important."

Unless, of course, the stories that Andrew Meyer finds really really important all start with the words "Andrew Meyer".; Reply to this comment


by shingles1 September 18, 2007 11:02 PM EDT: Eric Boehlert gives a "shout out" to the Public Eye in his takedown of the absurd beltway frenzy over the moveon.org ad:

mediamatters.org/columns/200709180005; Reply to this comment


by curtmerzfan September 18, 2007 9:33 PM EDT: No WAY I ever consider a vote for John Kerry just on the basis of this shameful episode! He should not have allowed the police to abuse this student and he should have immediately stood up for the student''s freedom of speech. NOT the kind of character traits I''m looking for in a president!; Reply to this comment


by cturner3rd September 18, 2007 7:54 PM EDT: This video is a hoot. I can''t believe it took 5 cops to get this skinny kid to the ground, and then they still couldn''t subdue him without a weapon. Dudes, it''s time to spend a little less time in the Krispy Kreme on 13th Avenue and a little more time in the gym. Seriously though, the Gainesville police are more suited to writing parking tickets and directing traffic then they are at maintaining the peace at public appearances by US Senators.; Reply to this comment


by acxeptddty September 18, 2007 7:38 PM EDT: this guy was a nutbag. the video shows he acted like his cheese was sliding off the cracker, rambling on and on in a loud voice and making little sense. in fact, it seems like he was bending over backward to make a spectacle of himself, so i wonder if -- from his standpoint -- he was staging the entire thing, although this would make more sense at a Dumbyah rally.

the clip showed plainly that the kid made the choice to go physical with the cops -- so what did he expect them to do? give him a cookie and a pat on the head?

on the other hand, with all the kid''s yelping like a little puppy, i can''t see how Kerry could fail to hear every bit of what was going on.

bottom line? one crazy makes it less likely that anyone reasonable will be heard. no wonder Republicans think that liberals are kooky.; Reply to this comment


by gsm1565 September 18, 2007 7:34 PM EDT: That is the way of our media. Focus on an event that is out of the ordinary instead of what really matters. It''s all part of the grand scheme to keep our eyes away from the real issues in our country. And it works, for the most part. More people are outraged by what happened to the student than what he or Kerry had to say.
We need to wake up in this country.; Reply to this comment


by wait_what September 18, 2007 7:32 PM EDT: "Congrats, Andrew. You, your behavior and your footage has ended up derailing the news media from covering the stories you find more important."

uh...and you were covering these important stories in the first place? Let me fill you in on something you might not be aware of: He''s not derailing you from anything. How much of today''s morning and evening news are you devoting to the OJ story?

Right...because that''s the important story CBS has been so rudely taken away from by a 21-year-old college student tasered by police after asking a senator some agressive/difficult questions.

I''m sure you have to get back to stealing editorial soundbytes from other news sources for Couric''s "reporter''s Notebook," so I''ll let you go.; Reply to this comment