Well, if a big disaster has just happened, it would seem cold and inappropriate for a newscaster or a TV presenter to remain impassive and act as if nothing happened. On the other hand, people who produce TV shows are terrified of anything going too off-script. They can't stand losing control of the show. So a TV presenter can't just break into tears for 20 minutes while on camera. What you end up with is scripted ritual emotion.

Kea, I agree. And said result is alienating and morbid and indicative of how consumeristic has become.

We're finally on the same page here.

But you do have a point.... 'Don't blame the player, blame the game'.

I think it bothers you more than it bothers me. I'm just inured to it, I don't expect any different on television. It only bugs me when the canned sympathy is so off-key as to be obscene, such as when I heard a TV presenter try to express sympathy for Southeast Asia after the tsunami by wishing their tourism industry a speedy recovery.

I'm not sure if you watched the videos I linked to, but you acan tell it's genuine. Hannity would ask some long-winded "What will it take to..." question, and Smith would only respond with an exasperated "I don't know." When Hannity tried to put his spin on it and said, "Well, let's put this into perspective here..." Smith yells back "THIS IS PERSPECTIVE!"

Well, yeah, I saw some genuine sounding emotions from news personalities too. I never meant to imply that all of them sound scripted and fake.