All of the cable networks will stay carry extensive coverage, but they're basically covering nothing.
The reduced network airtime is certainly understandable. There really IS no convention. Due to the Trumpvirus there are no jammed convention floors. There are no cheers and bands. And any spectacle is gone.
I used to love the political conventions as a kid. Network coverage in Los Angeles began at 4:00 and went well into midnight. There were reporters on the floor, wearing headset microphones and antennas sticking out their heads. Very “My Favorite Martian.” One time, John Chancellor of NBC News was arrested on the floor while on camera. He signed off by saying, “This is John Chancellor, NBC News, somewhere in custody.”
I lived for shit like that!
The night of the nomination was always fun. Each state got up and did a five-minute sell job on themselves. “Mr. Chairman, the great state of Idaho, home of potatoes, a blue football field, the Monument to a Mythical Massacre, the Atomic Burger, and current residence of revered whack-job Sarah Palin, casts twenty votes the next president of these here United States….”
In 1960 in Los Angeles, Kennedy needed several rounds to be selected and that was with some deep dish backroom caucuses. There was real drama.
Now everything has long been decided and the only suspense is whether Trump will say something else staggeringly stupid like the pandemic of 1917 ended World War II (which didn’t begin until 1939 you fucking moron).
I am sure publicly the broadcast networks will bemoan the fact that there’s no wall-to-wall coverage to cover, but privately they’re all doing cartwheels. They lose a ton of money carrying conventions. It’s a necessary evil. ABC would much rather air TO THE TELL THE TRUTH than the yahoo from Idaho.
Gone are the days of Walter Cronkite, and Huntley-Brinkley, and great Americana. Save the balloons. I bet Netflix really kicks ass this week and next.
from By Ken Levine
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