Deadline

 Back in the late seventies, marginally known ABC newsman Ted Koppel made a name for himself by hosting a show that came on after the late local news in which he described the day's events connected to the American hostages held in Iran. This broadcast became such a part of the late night landscape that even after those hostages had been released, the network chose to continue airing "America Held Hostage, Day (fill in the blank)" with a change of title: Nightline. This move not only made Ted a household name, but solidified his position at the American Broadcasting Company for another twenty-five years. And ABC didn't need to worry about how to counterprogram against Johnny Carson. They had Ted. 

I would argue that Nightline was the first shot fired in the twenty-four hour news cycle war. Did we really need that much more information at the end of the day? Or were we setting up for the day to come? What was on fire? Where was the next conflict brewing? What were the imminent threats to our way of life? Did you see Nightline? The world looks like it's going to end (checks watch) well, soon.

The world did not end on Ted Koppel's watch, confirming my suspicions that the bang that we had all anticipated will not be coming, but rather a prolonged whimper. That whimper will be punctuated by bangs of various sorts: mass shootings, explosions, hurricanes and the like. Not the big boom that we were all tensed for back in 1979.

Things are blowing up in certain corners of the globe, threatening to blow up in others. We watch the cable news networks as they play out the catastrophe du jour with a crawl at the bottom of the screen that tells us about the catastrophes for which they have yet to receive video. And if you happen to step away from the television that dominates your living room, there are multiple smaller screens which will keep you apprised of the crisis that erupted while you were on your way to the next big thing. Many of us will do the collective favor of documenting the part of the world that happens to be falling apart in front of them just in case you needed some vertical video of disaster happening. 

I honestly believe that if I could truly pry myself away from all this media, I could convince myself that things are not so bad. Sure, I'm wearing a mask, and the smoke in the air suggests that there might be a nasty bug floating around somewhere, but maybe I don't have to be attached to the happenings at the airport in Kabul on a minute by minute basis. 

I guess I'm saying that I miss Ted Koppel distilling the Apocalypse for me on a nightly basis.