Sunday, December 16, 2012; 12:18:31 PM Eastern
Sunday news is like opera
A comment from Jay Rosen reminded me that Sunday news programs are so totally predictable. - On each topic there are a fixed set of talking points. When a news event happens, the conductors -- Bob Schieffer, Chris Hayes, George Stephanopoulos, David Gregory, etc get out the script, and call in people to sing each role in the opera of the day.
- There's a male lead, a female lead, comic relief, someone to be murdered. All the usual characters. And they sing. If it's a big enough story, we just hear one opera per show. If it's a slow news week, we get a variety of songs.
- The only thing that's new from week to week is which operas are performed. Maybe a little stylistic variation. But always the same plot, and outcome.