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Weiner Fatigue: 63% Of Americans Are Sick Of The Anthony Weiner Story
According to the new Pew Research Center for People and the Press’ Weekly News Interest Index, the American people wanted the media to talk about the economy, and instead they got Anthony Weiner.
According to the Weekly News Interest Index, the Anthony Weiner scandal was the most covered news story last week. Stories relating to Weinergate made up 17% of the media coverage. Weiner got more coverage than the economy (11%), the 2012 election (8%), the Arizona wildfires (4%), and Libya (3%).
This would be all well and good if the American people were highly interested in Weiner, but what people really wanted to talk about was the economy. Twenty three percent of those surveyed listed the economy as the story they were most interested in, but the economy only received 11% of the coverage.
The respondents were not only more interested in the economy but they also they also thought that the media gave the Weiner scandal too much coverage, as 63% of those surveyed thought that the story was over covered. While 39% said they followed reports about the economy very closely, only 15% followed the Weiner scandal very closely. A whopping 57% said that that didn’t follow the scandal at all.
Majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents all agree that the Weiner story had been over covered. Sixty eight percent of Democrats, 57% of Republicans, and 66% of Independents all think that Weinergate has gotten too much coverage. Anthony Weiner’s political scandal has been less closely followed than the scandals involving Mark Foley and Elliot Spitzer (26% each), Larry Craig (17%), and Mark Sanford (16%).
If the American people care more about the economy than Anthony Weiner, then why do the media continue to feed a public endless coverage of scandal that a majority of people aren’t following? The answer is because scandal stories are cheap and easy to cover. Stories about the economy have been deemed too boring for the American people by those who run the corporate media.
In the past, political sex scandals have sold well. They boost ratings and attract casual viewers that might not pay much attention to politics. However, the media is finding out that self sex doesn’t sell. There really isn’t much to the Anthony Weiner scandal. Pervy congressman liked to talk dirty, send pictures of himself, and spank the monkey. He lied about it. He confessed it all, and that is pretty much it. Without the presence of actual real sex, this story has sort of fallen flat in terms of being a juicy ratings getter.
There is no senator trying to pick up men in a bathroom, or Appalachian Trail, or anti-gay crusader trying to hustle sex out of House pages, there aren’t even any prostitutes. The Weiner scandal is kind of lame. Once he confessed, and no more bombshells came out, the story was over.
At its root, there is a chicken and egg argument here. Do the American people want hard news, and the media feeds them fluff, or is the media responding to what the American people want? The problem is that since news divisions and cable networks have become profit generating entities for their corporate owners, the American people don’t really have a choice.
The news is now considered entertainment. The powers that be don’t view stories about the economy as something that will lure casual viewers in, so they stick to sex scandals and hope that sordid developments ignite the public’s interest.
The media is more obsessed with the Anthony Weiner scandal than the American people. America wants to hold a serious conversation while the media can’t stop talking about Anthony Weiner’s c**k.
And we wonder why so many Americans are uninformed.
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17 Responses to Weiner Fatigue: 63% Of Americans Are Sick Of The Anthony Weiner Story
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Reynardine
Jun. 16th, 2011 at 4:04 pm
The whole story of the undercovered Weiner was grossly overcovered, but I don’t think it’s just a marketing decision that marshmallow fluff sells. It’s a corporatocratic decision that if American minds are fed nothing but marshmallow fluff, they’ll become so debilitated and diabetic from too much sugar and no protein that they’ll offer no resistance when we’re finally led to… wherever they want us to go.
Stephen VanDyke
Jun. 16th, 2011 at 5:19 pm
Shopping!
noname
Jun. 16th, 2011 at 10:52 pm
Yay!!!! What are we gonna buy?
Deirdre
Jun. 16th, 2011 at 5:29 pm
Can I vote? The entire debacle was completely meaningless. His press conference aired when I was about to board a plane, and I had to listen to an airplane full of people discuss the merits/sins/looks/underwear of this guy. Move on to something substantial – instead we’ll probably get fixated on the news that the second cousin of someone in the White House got caught with a joint – or something equally unhelpful/unimportant.
Steven
Jun. 16th, 2011 at 6:02 pm
My theory is that more people in general are becoming more involved and knowledgeable about politics, especially when it comes to economics because it is actually starting to directly effect their daily lives. That is normally what it takes for the most complacent among us to begin taking notice.
Shiva (Moderator)
Jun. 16th, 2011 at 6:54 pm
Several thoughts, both of them.
On CNN one person said he was getting flack about covering Palin so much on her bus ride, and the boy in the balloon. Both instances deserved 10 minutes a piece. The media goes on and on and on pointlessly on everything. And its always one annopuncer after the next. We start off tonight with the same pointless story you heard at 7 am this morning.
We need to send our media people to Europe to be properly laughed at.
But Weiner is lucky. He got 1000% more coverage than places where we have men dying.
Ingarose
Jun. 16th, 2011 at 7:46 pm
Now that Weiner resigned, the media will need another juicy story to keep them busy, because they really cannot cover the news.
Noobs
Jun. 16th, 2011 at 9:04 pm
At this point I can honestly say that America’s culture is that of a voyeur’s and a significant amount of the news is for this voyeur-ship that the media helped stimulate. I’m not going to say I didn’t sit here astounded and repulsed, considering I’m guilty of simply shitting on Republicans 100000x more than Democrats.
I DO think that America needs to change their entire culture. If you go to other countries, you will see the vast differences people have in political culture… Consider the French Prime Minister and his wife. Damn, if shit like that happened here then our candidate wouldn’t get elected for shit, whether Republican or Democrat.
America needs a fucking change, so it can finally understand where it’s going and what it can do to help.
NHWard
Jun. 17th, 2011 at 5:42 am
The “mainstream” media is as out of touch with what Americans want to hear as the White House is. It’s why newspapers are failing and TV news shows are passing away. We get our news now from primary sources and no longer need the old tired foolish media.
LiberalsSuck
Jun. 17th, 2011 at 10:01 am
Oh so its too much coverage when one of your own guys gets caught being a lowlife piece of dirt, but whenever there’s a chance to rag on the republicans (or frankly even when there isn’t and liberal sites like this embellish stories to pretend there is) no ones sick of the story.
Liberals continue to disgust me and I hated Wiener wayyyy before it was cool and just thought of him as a nervy little arrogant prick. Tough crap, your hero got busted with his pants down. I imagine conservatives feel plenty of this now with Arnie, but I don’t see them being pathetic defenders and cooking up statistics on behalf of a severely flawed man, they just come clean about it.
Shiva (Moderator)
Jun. 17th, 2011 at 10:14 am
So, conservative cites said nothing about Weiner? A national poll says America is tired of Weiner and now you admit America is Liberal? TY.
Vitter blows your argument to heck. Conservative sites who are still going on about Weiner blow your argument to heck
gusandra
Jun. 21st, 2011 at 6:53 pm
The problem is that a great many of our elected reps are psychopathic in some way. You almost have to be to play politics today and be able to sleep. The Weiner thing is just the tip of the dick.