“Welcome Welcome.” “We have a big show for you today.”
If you are chuckling to yourself you are aware that this is the daily greeting from the CBS morning news show.
“Welcome, welcome” Really, Really? Isn’t one welcome enough enough?
By supplying a second welcome what are you accomplishing? Are you now, with this repetition, actually greeting me? Then what of all those rude folks who utter a single welcome? Are we now to look at them with disdain?
Or are you just trying to separate yourself from the ‘rest’, and be ‘special’, ‘unique’, ‘quirky’? If so, what’s wrong with conventional mannerisms as they’ve seemed to do us well for a great length of time – particularly with objective news reporting on very often very serious content. One benefit of the doubt is that these personalities named below recognize the negativity bias in the news they are reporting and some self-awareness urges them to counter that and actually be decent humans.
BUT, by changing customer mannerisms don’t they in some sense lose their meaning? After all it’s only due to a mannerism’s wide use and acceptance that it’s able to convey an intended and understood meaning.
And is it really a “big show today” if that is uttered at the beginning of each show? Again, there seems to be a degradation in meaning here. Perhaps this is best addressed by stating we have a “big, big show”?? Or a really, super-big show???
I suppose that’s enough picking on Gayle King and CBS News; I’ll take my deep breath as there is no intervening here and the hosts will continue speaking to the American public as though we’re in second grade. I’ll refrain from commenting on Nate Burleson’s ridiculous attire…
On what channel is the adult news?
In the past I was an avid watcher of NBC’s Sunday morning’s Meet the Press. Every Sunday morning would be spent indulging on pancakes and taking in the conversations of Tim Russert (RIP).
However since Tim’s passing the show has not captivated me. Well, honestly, I think it’s horrible. The bias and just plain antagonistic questioning does not foster a satisfying morning routine for me any more. Chuck Todd you just irritate me.
One recent morning, I was particularly reminded why I rarely watch major network news. The CBS reporter was interviewing the widow of a man who died in the hospital following an odd turn of events. The man was pronounced dead. But after some time he began moving about, and while not lucid, he was in fact alive. A coroner arrived and advised the attending physician that dead people don’t move. A couple hours later the man did in fact die. That’ the backstory.
Now, during the interview the reporter, addressing the tearful widow about the timeline from the initial pronouncement of death until the actual death of her husband, actually asks the question (paraphrased): Do you feel guilt as the one looking after your husband?
Are you f’n serious?!
This woman just lost her husband, in a series of events that is odd and concerning at minimum and what may be negligent and harmful. And this reporter is essentially trying to elicit some sense of responsibility from the grieving widow? How in the world is this an appropriate question?
I literally, physically, turned the television off at this point, dumbstruck as to how this could be in alignment with the mission and values of CBS, taken from the Corporate Responsibility section on their website: “CBS Corporation strives to use its power and reach for the public good.”
Perhaps for some reason I’ve over-reacted to the interviewer’s question or mannerisms in asking the question. And maybe people resonate with Gayle’s pandering communication style or Nate’s vibrant self-expression (god help us). Maybe I was mad that my toast burnt that morning. Who the fuck knows. In any case a bad taste was left in my mouth.