News reporting hits a new . . . idea

News reporting hits a new . . . idea

Posted on January 15th, 2009 by Olga Gardner Galvin

In an ever-escalating drive to bring news reporting to the very pinnacle of triteness, NBC Nightly News offered coverage of a plane falling into the Hudson River today along these lines: “So much could have gone wrong that didn’t; so let’s hear from our experts on some of the things that could have gone wrong.”

Go, Brian Williams! When the news isn’t exciting enough,* reporting on news that might have been — what a concept!

“The weather today was exactly what is normally expected this time of year; let’s hear from our experts on how a tsunami would have affected the economy of the tri-state area.”

“Charles Barkley was arrested today for drunken driving; let’s hear from our sportscaster how it would have played out had he walked into a church and started singing along with the choir.”

“The president made a few routine decisions and signed a couple of unremarkable laws; let’s hear from our political commentators what would have happened if he’d asked Congress to approve funds for a bicycle trip to the Moon.”

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* Because nobody died; but this guy is the new Joe the Plumber. His autobiography will come out in 2009, followed by a run for Congress in 2010.