Most people today get their news from television, a fact which is both understandable and alarming. It is understandable because people are busier than ever before and want their news in shorter bursts. It is alarming because this necessarily means a less informed public, particularly given the cursory way television treats most news and the way the sensational is featured over everything else. Of course, the sensational was always a staple in the newspaper business as well, but there are many who believe that there is a difference because television as a medium is more damaging than any other. The argument that television is inherently harmful has been waged for some time, and criticism of television as a superficial medium has also been offered for some time. Today, though, there is more feeling than ever that television is cheapening the news-gathering potential of the medium and that the audience is allowing this to happen and even encouraging it by giving high ratings to so-called trash television--tabloid news programs, sensationalistic talk programs, and the antics of supposed investigative reporters and social analysts like Geraldo Rivera.
Indeed, Geraldo has become something of a symbol of all that is wrong with television even though he did not start this type of show, nor is he even the most blatant purveyor of trash television. What he is is one of the most self-promoting of the proponents of tabloid television, and his blatant propagandizing on his own behalf has included several incidents in which he placed himself in a dangerous situation or encouraged sparks between rivals to the point of violence. Geraldo claims that he is a serious journalist, and at various times he has worked in a more journalistic capacity than he does today. However, as many critics note, Geraldo and others have blurred the distinction between news and entertainment to the point where news has to be entertaining to get anyone to watch a...