Someday I will turn on the television and flip to a random news network to find out the week’s weather forecast and see Ricki Lake talking about cold fronts and lake effect snow.
And next to her will be Mark-Paul Gosselaar from “Saved by the Bell” talking about America’s latest crisis overseas.
Think it’s not possible? Then just listen to this logic.
Former “NYPD Blue” actress Andrea Thompson is now an anchor for CNN. And now that Gosselaar is on “NYPD Blue,” it seems only fitting that he would want to follow in his co-worker’s footsteps.
So what happened to the real journalists working for credible organizations?
I’m not trying to get a journalism degree so that actors from police dramas with decreasing ratings can take my spot.
If only these were the sole issues concerning anchors for major news networks.
But other forms of stupidity exist as well.
Former CBS News anchor Paula Zahn, now an anchor for CNN’s morning news show, American Morning with Paula Zahn, was the subject of a raunchy promotion attempt by the network in a commercial that aired last weekend.
With the sound of a zipper in the background, the words “provocative,” “smart” and “sexy” flashed across the screen.
Although the promotion only aired a few times before it was removed, credibility has been damaged for what is supposed to be a leader of high quality news coverage.
Which brings me to my next point, the Fox News Channel.
Usually I see a highway police chase or, well, that’s pretty much it. And the network uses a kind of mind control that makes you keep watching, even though you can feel yourself growing dumber by the second.
Attempts to cover more newsworthy topics by the network have recently led to embarrassing allegations.
After an incident in Kandahar, Afghanistan, where three American soldiers were accidentally killed by a U.S. bomb, news correspondent Geraldo Rivera said he had walked over the site with a great feeling of sadness.
But further research revealed Rivera had actually made the report from Tora Bora, hundreds of miles away.
Maybe Afghanistan just looks the same everywhere to Rivera and it was an honest mistake.
Even with that in mind, it could have been easily prevented.
Why is it so difficult to avoid simple, mindless mistakes?
First of all, actors are not meant to be news anchors. That’s what “Saturday Night Live” is for. It’s hard to believe that the same amount of respect given to CBS’ Mike Wallace could be given to a TV star.
Secondly, although the tacky, thoughtless promotion of Zahn can hardly be blamed on her, it still shows the mindset of the network.
It doesn’t matter if you have a brain. That’s just an added bonus.
I’m very puzzled by the notion that the same network that produced “When Animals Attack” and “Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?” is capable of producing strong news coverage.
Oh well. I’ll keep watching CNN and hoping for Gosselaar’s eventual emergence as an intelligent news anchor.
It could happen.
Leslie Escobar, MS&U enterprise reporter, can be reached at escobarl@msu.edu.
