These sad nutcases don’t even qualify as media whores:
Every morning, Tammy Haddad, executive producer of MSNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews,” hears from more than 100 aspiring commentators. They each explain why they’d be the perfect guest to spout off on the issues of the day. “We call them ‘street meat,’ ” says Ms. Haddad. “They’re always available, walking the streets, waiting for your call on their cellphones.”
They are the minor-league pundits — political consultants, professors, activists, actors, journalists, bloggers and opinionated civilians — and they’re using 21st-century stunts to troll for airtime. Some try to break out of the blogs by repeating particular phrases in their written rants, designed to pop their sites up when TV bookers search for keywords online. Others are buying air time on AM and Internet radio stations to practice their punditry. And many are turning to media advisers or partisan training programs, where they learn new rules of engagement, such as how to use food to bribe producers. The ploys can work, as networks like CNN regularly survey the field, looking for new contributors.
Most of these wannabees are, like the high-profile courtesans they aspire to be, selling nothing but themselves. Very few have any actual ideas or much intelligence, and it’s amusing to read how at least one of the women was picked out because a media exec was “impressed by her looks”. Why not just do what Bill O’Reilly and Howard Stern do and go right for Jenna Jameson?
“News” has become an utter joke. And yet producers always have a hard time believing that I have no interest in selling myself to help them sell whatever it is that they advertise on all those radio and television shows that I don’t watch.
You don’t need to pay attention to any of these things to stay informed, in fact, I argue that doing so is more likely to leave you misinformed. Radio and television are very poor mediums for information transfer, especially in comparison with reading books and the Internet.