Cliché Fatigue

CNN is a bad habit of mine. I honestly feel guilty watching it when there's a federal election campaign going on at home.

At the very least I could be taking in some PBS, where the viewer is treated like an adult. I did watch the News hour with Jim Lehrer the other day, and would you believe there wasn't one monitor displaying an American flag? The headlines didn't even end in an exclamation point!

But nope, I can't quit The Most Trusted Name in News. It's like a big-ol' greasy bag of potato chips, when what I really need is a salad.

However, if all the shrill partisan bickering, sensationalism, and Cialis commercials haven’t chased me away, the clichés might. If I hear about the Wall St/Main St dichotomy one more time I'm going to scream.

The ultimate cliché in the endless presidential campaign, however, is “game changer”. As far as I can tell this meme popped up when Hillary Clinton’s campaign tanked after Super Tuesday. How can Hillary get back in? She needs a game changer!

The game changer is an insidious tool because it plays into the wider cliché of politics as a sort of spectator sport. CNN’s daytime election coverage show is actually called “Ballot Bowl”. How can people be expected to get past their cynicisms about politics if it is being presented as a giant game where strategy blatantly takes precedence over truth?

I think this was demonstrated in CNN’s coverage of the vice-presidential debate. There was a live focus group of undecided voters turning dials to indicate approval or disapproval, with the results being broadcast on screen. In general, when the candidates pulled at the heartstrings and promised lower taxes, the lines went up, and when they went negative, attacking the opponent, it went down.

How does a two-dimensional study like this express that the candidate made them think? The study was based entirely on emotional gut responses.

I will say that I was delighted to notice that every time Governor Palin mentioned the word Maverick her approval ticked down a tiny notch. Perhaps McCain/Palin's own favourite cliche is floundering.

I suppose that this is the sort of thing that always emerges from focus groups. People like sports and they want instant gratification. The punditocracy is based on putting forward information as entertainingly, rather than accurately, as possible.