Nancy Dis-Grace
by Laura Snedeker
Stories of missing, dead, and abducted people dominate the TV news. Not the five-hundred people indefinitely detained at Guantanamo Bay or the several dozen Iraqis murdered in Baghdad every day. University of Vermont student Michelle Gardener-Quinn has disappeared. Call the Army, call the Navy.
In a brief moment of insanity, I turned on the TV and watched Nancy Grace, “television’s only justice themed/interview/debate show, designed for those interested in the justice stories of the day” according to CNN.
Instead of focusing on nationally important justice stories such as the recently passed detainee bill or one of a number of outrages, Nancy Grace, the shrieking lawyer who lends her name to the title, prefers to focus on missing college students, missing children, murdered children, and online predators. In a month where there was much talk about whether the government would follow the Geneva Conventions, Nancy Grace was more concerned with one person who may have been abducted on the way to her dorm.
In fairness to Grace, there are always a number of local crime stories that make their way to national TV. CNN is only consolidating these news items (and the fake outrage that goes along with them) into one program. The program’s focus on titillating (if nationally unimportant) stories is part of a larger TV news problem. One death (or abduction or molestation), especially of a child, is a far larger tragedy in the eyes of TV news than the deaths of sixty or one hundred thousand people. While people died by the thousands in Iraq or were tortured in secret prisons, how many stories focused on Terry Schiavo or Jennifer Wilbanks (the so-called “Runaway Bride”)?
Perhaps my lack of patience with TV news for obsessing over a few missing people seems callous. But frankly, I’m sick of watching stories styled as “won’t-somebody-think-of-the-children” which feature pundits who harp on about the dangers of internet predators or Strange Men Who Lurk in Shadows and Are Out to Steal Your Baby.
People watch programs like Nancy Grace because it’s easy for them to connect to family-centered stories – the missing student or child – and not so easy to identify with a story that consists mainly of a body count. One story is personal and close-to-home; the other is factual and impersonal. Excuse me, but I have to go buy some pepper spray. Nancy Grace says that Someone Is Out To Get Me.
(Photo of Nancy Grace courtesy of CNN.)
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12 comments:
Here in Toronto there's a stageplay for young people on right now called Hana's Suitcase. Based on a book that tells a true story of what happens to one girl and her family during the Holocaust, the play touched myself and others I've spoken with deeply.
Reading this article it occured to me that maybe more of the general population in the U.S. and Canada would take an interest in current world affairs if they were presented with individual stories to connect with, rather than being constantly baraged with local tragedies. The next step, to see that the international stories were happening a thousand-fold, would seem a natural progression.
(By the way, I've just discovered this blog and I'm looking forward to reading more!)
Nancy Grace is a disgrace. Did you see Saturday Night Live's spoof of her this past weekend? She's also full of it, according to some reports. I blogged about her in April. Keep of the good work!
P.S. I'm an AU grad. :o)
Great to see new folks commenting here, including some recent grads! (Yes, we know you.)
I'm especially glad to hear from the Canadian audience. I just mentioned our growing Canadian audience in "A View from the Tower". With such thoughtful comments, we hope you come back for many more visits.
The Holocaust remains an important international touchstone. (For a recent treatment of some poignant U.S. stories on that theme, see: "Holocaust Survivors").
We will have to check out "Hana's Suitcase" through your link. Thanks.
You know how the famous Joseph Stalin quote goes:
"When you kill one, it is a tragedy. When you kill ten million, it is a statistic."
I took a quick look at the website for the book, and it looks really interesting.
I think you're right about showing international stories with a focus on the individual. Sometimes the newspapers do this and it is moving.
Unfortunately I didn't see SNL's spoof, but it's probably on YouTube.
Yes, an AU grad who makes a typo! I meant, "Keep UP the good work." That's what I get for trying to write something at 11:54 p.m.
Excellent word choice... shrieking. It's time for Ms. Grace to learn that her brand of discriminatory sensationalism is less than helpful.
For those who asked, here's the "SNL" video.
Studio 60 had a Nancy Grace skit (I know they are copying SNL ie themselves) but it was pretty funny as well.
That woman is crazy, but she certainly has a market.
Nancy Grace is an embarrassment but even worse is Saturday Night Live's skit. There is nothing funny about rape. There are a million other ways to make fun of Nancy Grace. Rape is not comedy. Calling women who are raped liars is not comedy. http://boards.nbc.com/nbc/index.php?showtopic=720319
Just to be clear... that last comment was about the "SNL" skit that was broadcast on Dec. 16 not the skit that is linked in the comment section here.
For those who are curious, the Dec. 16 skit discusses the allegations of rape at Duke University. The October Nancy Grace skit was actually about the Foley scandal.
So far, NBC has not posted the Dec. 16 skit on its website but YouTube has the skit.
Nancy Grace deserves no Pulitzer, Emmy, or even employee of the month award, however; she still serves a function in American society.
The majority of Americans do not care about foreign affairs because they cannot make the abstract connections on how what happens in Waziristan affects them in Des Moines.
The stories on Nancy Grace serve as cautionary tales to inform Americans on the threats they consider most real and immediate.
Child abduction, rape, and online predators are serious problems within our society, and many people do in fact underestimate the probability of becoming a victim of such crimes.
The average American wants to know what they can do to protect their children, they realize that doing so is well within their capability. Grace may be a shrieking harpy, but she gives news which satisfys the most immediate desires of those seeking information (How are people trying to hurt my family? How can I keep my family safe? What is being done to prevent these atrocities?).
The average American does not particularly care about suicide bombings on the rise in Afghanistan. The concepts behind the statistics are confusing, and even if the true gravity of the story were comprehended, how is the average viewer supposed to do anything?
Nancy Grace may use scare tactics and sensationalism, but she brings into the public eye problems which average Americans feel they are capable to either solve or prevent in their own communities.
If somebody can figure out a way to mass market international news
explaining global implications holistically, I implore them to do so. I find it difficult for objectivity and marketability to co-exist, but until they do I see no future for international news to take any prominence in the 24/7 news oligopoly.
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