Temptation is the devil's tool, we are told. The ability to resist is a Christian value, dating back to Roma times. Yet temptation is what drives the cash cow behind North American media. Scandal sells, dubious behaviour adds to the mystique that the media manipulates, translating from plain English into dollars and cents. One need not go much further than prime time - Ally McBeal - puhleeze.

Yet Ally and her cohorts on various variegated variety shows are but the tip of the iceberg. Pratfalls bring the desired canned laughter envisaged by the producer. And sure - entertainment is the main reason for the existence of the television media - people choose not to think, but rather wish to relax. Here the brothers Marx and Smothers serve a role for the pablumized grey masses.

As long as one is aware of the fact that Tom and Dick, Groucho and Zeppo are out there solely to make money (for themselves and their masters, of course) all is fine and dandy.

The interpretation of significant events, known as news, has a different logic to it. That is why TV shows like 20/20 exist, why Larry King and Barbara Walters are accorded credibility that they would never attain in print. The masses do not want to think - they want to be entertained.

How else to explain the circus around Dubya's pretzel problem. It should never have been the lead story on CNN that night, it should not have been above the fold in most North American newspapers the next day. But it was - because it was "news".

That distiction is becoming more and more tormented. For at least one ink-stained wretch, great liberties are taken with news. Sorry - even scriveners choke on salty products. But if you are Dubya, then that makes it news.

Politesse be damned - that is also damaging. Hizzoner Mel Lastman shook the hand of a Hell's Angel (wouldn't you if you were vertically challenged, as his melness is?) All of a sudden this is a huge scandal, and the approval ratings are glacial.

Get a life is all that a bystander could or should say. For the people that follow news to garner information, that same sentiment should be applied. Otherwise the sentient beings on this earth, who may care more about Voltaire, Rimbaud and Moliere than salty snacks and handshakes may not subscribe to CNN - and what would Ted Turner do then? Fear not though America, the culture of complacency and superficiality is alive and well. Just look at Dubya's bruised cheekbones...

TÕNU NAELAPEA

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