Media Journal #3

Looking for different forms of cynicism and skepticism was a little hard for me this week but I think I found some pretty interesting articles that kind of flirt between both characteristics. The first article I found which I thought to be really interesting and kind of ridiculous is from The New York Times, "Robertson Stirs Passions with Suggestion to Divorce an Alzheimer's Patient" by Erik Eckholm. I think Eckholm did a solid job of being more skeptical than cynical because he provided opinions from several sources, even though most of them disagreed with Robertson's controversial statement and words of advice to a caller who was a husband with a wife who has Alzeimer's that "if he’s going to do something, he should divorce her and start all over again".

I think if Eckholm were really a cynic the article would have focused more on the "treacherous moral terrain" Robertson put himself in from his own perspective and would have given more of his own opinion, rather than just providing lots of quotes about how much criticism and discussion that it brought up. Another article that I found in my search for cynicism was from the Los Angeles Times "Opinion" section, "The Emmys and Tax Credits for 'Jersey Shore' " by Patt Morrison. In this article Morrison discusses the incredible amount of tax credits the show 'Jersey Shore' is allegedly receiving for the first season and how legislators are trying to get the motion vetoed. I interpreted not only Patt Morrison's voice but also the article as a whole to be cynical. He included quotes like that the Republican Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon remarked sardonically that he cannot believe that "we are paying for fake tanning for 'Snooki' and 'The Situation,' and I am not even sure $420,000 covers that."

Along with other quotes that are similar to Assemblyman O'Scanlon's Morrison also makes the point of suggesting that a show such as 'Jersey Shore' could be filmed elsewhere, like other productions have improvised such as how"L.A.'s City Hall has doubled for the Vatican and the U.S. Capitol" or that the "real apartment building in 'Seinfeld'...is actually The Shelley in Los Angeles, west of MacArthur Park". For this article I actually enjoyed reading a cynical point of view because I find the subject to be actually really funny. I also don't think the information could be conveyed without a little cynicism or sarcasm. However, I did find Morrison's ending to be a little over the top with his "don't get too cocky, Jersey, or you’ll find your TV bonanza off-shored and outsourced to a place like Florida, where you can tan outdoors, all year 'round, for free."

I thought it was interesting that when I was actually looking for cynicism in articles I had a really hard time doing so. For some reason this week it seemed that most of the articles were pretty even-keeled. I was kind of bummed I didn't find a true nihilistic journalist who's cynicism just kind of seeped off the page, because I felt like i've found it before but now I don't know where it was. But i'm sure now that I know how to identify it I'll stumble across more in the future.

Reading List:

1) NY Times

2) The Guardian

3) L.A. Times

4) The Wonkette

5) MSNBC News (TV)

6) NPR

7) The Huffington Post

8) The Futility Closet