Focus On Footage
(CBS)
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 Agenzia Giornalistica Italia. (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.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.
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.
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.
The secrets of tennis legend 
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.
Unless, of course, the stories that Andrew Meyer finds really really important all start with the words "Andrew Meyer".
mediamatters.org/columns/200709180005
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.
We need to wake up in this country.
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.
What kind of message is this event producing?
It is so sad that the common man with real questions can not approach through an open door and ask the questions that matter to make the appropriate decisions on electing officials - in his mind and maybe others.
Instead we are all watching superficial elections based on superficial Q&A.
What kind of message is this event producing?
It is so sad that the common man with real questions can not approach through an open door and ask the questions that matter to make the appropriate decisions on electing officials - in his mind and maybe others.
Instead we are all watching superficial elections based on superficial Q&A.
Or maybe newsworthy stuff happened all the time--ie police brutality--but no one knew about it or it was easy to hush up because so few knew about it, and now we live in an age where these things get exposed the way they should. Preserving the status quo helps no one, especially victims.
What kind of message is this event producing?
It is so sad that the common man with real questions can not approach through an open door and ask the questions that matter to make the appropriate decisions on electing officials - in his mind and maybe others.
Instead we are all watching superficial elections based on superficial Q&A.
What kind of message is this event producing?
It is so sad that the common man with real questions can not approach through an open door and ask the questions that matter to make the appropriate decisions on electing officials - in his mind and maybe others.
Instead we are all watching superficial elections based on superficial Q&A.
What kind of message is this event producing?
It is so sad that the common man with real questions can not approach through an open door and ask the questions that matter to make the appropriate decisions on electing officials - in his mind and maybe others.
Instead we are all watching superficial elections based on superficial Q&A.
He was atually trying to shed light on the issues you described on his website. The police however, ****** it all up and made it a story. So congrats Matthew, you''re dumb!
- by memekiller September 18, 2007 6:23 PM EDT
- Funny. I have to say, I admire the hell out of the cops for having the yarbles to taser an anti-war college student at a Kerry rally. Not the friendliest audience for heavy-handed police, so you know this guy was out of hand when a good number in the audience thought the police acted very professionally.
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See all 20 CommentsAnother one for the Daily Show''s "You''re Not Helping" segment.
As an aside, a friend of mine whose cousin''s death became one of the top downloaded YouTube clips. I always wondered what it would be like to know someone with the misfortune of dying on videotape.