THE JOKE

On an Iowa campaign stop, Hillary Clinton was asked if she has what it takes to deal with the bad, evil men in the world. “Now what in my background would prepare me to deal with bad, evil men?” she quipped, obviously referring to her philandering husband. Okay, cute answer. Next question.

But noooo! The media pounced on this rare, light moment – Hillary doesn’t have the same gift of humor as the philanderer - analyzing it as if it were breaking news: Was she really talking about the former president? How did he react to the jibe? Is she trying to get the “cuckoldette” vote? Will it affect her standing in the polls?

Let it be, for Christ’s sake. After public humiliation on a scale that few of us could imagine, followed by almost a decade of silence on the subject, the woman made a joke. It wasn’t news, it wasn’t politically relevant, it wasn’t even that funny. It was a non-event. If reporters had paid that much attention to what the president said, we might not be at war.

It does revel something about our news media, though. Network news shows are carefully designed to promote an image of journalists as completely knowledgeable and altruistically motivated. Network anchors still sit behind official looking desks as they flawlessly disseminate the news, calling up stories on high-tech screens from reporters around the world. How could anyone doubt their integrity? Unfortunately, high-salaried network anchors who work for corporate-owned news organizations are little more than front men, shills, corporate spokesmen. The quest for ratings/advertising profits, forces them to air celebrity trivia as news, all in search of the lowest common denominator and the largest audience. Serious viewers are forced to look elsewhere for serious news. The joke, unfortunately, is on us.

I know news shows cost money, but corporate ownership of national news outlets is a dangerous. We deserve a passionate, honorable, independent news media. At the moment, we don’t have one.