The Wheel and Axle

Continued From:

Murphy’s Law, Part 1: Social Relevance

What is more fascinating in hindsight, to me at least, is that – beyond the strong feminist theme of the show – Murphy Brown is a show that depicts what journalism should be.

In the show, we see investigative journalists do, well, actual investigation. They run after stories, ensure their sources are strong and credible, and deliver their findings in manners worthy of the term “journalist.”

Contrast that with today’s “journalism” and you will cringe. A lot (though not all) of today’s “journalists” are what I call “armchair journalists” whose primary weapons, apparently, are Google and Twitter. How many of today’s new crop of newspeople are really journalists? Too few, unfortunately (Anderson Cooper is, happily, one of them).

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Recently, I got around to rewatching one of my favorite sitcoms from yesteryear. It’s literally been over a decade, maybe even more, since I watched Murphy Brown, but watching it again showed me just what a masterpiece the show was and what a trailblazer it had been – a show way ahead of its time.

In this award-winning show, Candice Bergen plays the titular character, a ballsy, no-nonsense journalist in her 40s who comes back to her news program after a stint at Betty Ford. She returns to work with a much younger executive producer at the helm along with a couple of old and new faces in the news team – including a quirky Southern ditz slash former beauty queen portrayed by Faith Ford, whom I ended up having a girl crush on.

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