So Many Messages Scrambling For Attention, Little Space For Reflection

Michael Hedges September 21, 2022 - Follow on Twitter

Television may have reached its maturity some time ago. Singular events still draw considerable audiences. Television is now only part of that. Digital platforms have risen. And with that the idea of that grand, unifying global media event has faded. We have just seen - or heard - its denouement.

Broadcasters and publishers serving a broad swath of the world scurried about two weeks ago on learning that Queen Elizabeth II was near the end of her mortal reign. Those in greatest proximity - the BBC, ITV and the British press - had plans, however vague, in place for several years. Those editors would not be scrambling for background text nor camera placements. They would be set, organized and professional.

During the course of the 11 days until her funeral and interment nearly every major news outlet in the world offered notice, sometimes reflection. All UK television channels - save commercial Channel 5 - devoted their entire schedules. BBC television and radio channels, along with the World Service, mostly simulcast a single program. Television measurement service BARB, quoted by Bloomberg (September 19), estimated 26.2 million in the UK, more than half the population, viewed the funeral. UK tabloids - minding their forté - reveled in dispatches about Royal Family rivalries, the corgies, pony Emma and the bagpipe player.

Advertising in the UK was largely paused, resuming after the funeral. The giant digital outdoor billboards showed visual memories of the Queen or TV video. The Daily Mail carried no ads on the top half of its front cover. UK media buyers cut-back on social media ads. Several major brands - including automaker Lexus - postponed major fall UK campaigns.

Major US, Canadian and Australian TV broadcasters gave up their schedules, largely, as did French, Spanish, German and Italian channels. CNN also gave up ads through the period. Major French television channels carried the Westminster Abbey funeral service and, according the measurement service Médiamétrie, attracted 7.5 million viewers. Les Echos (September 20) noted that was fewer than the TV audience for special programs about Johnny Halliday’s death in 2017.

German politicians noted coverage of Queen Elizabeth memorials to complain about public broadcasting financing. “The fact that ARD, ZDF and Phoenix broadcast live and in parallel from the Queen's funeral from London and each have their own staff in London clearly shows that there is considerable potential for savings,” said Finance Minister Christian Lindner to Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung (September 20). The public broadcasting household license fee finds itself entered into every speech by German politicians.

Major national newspapers published poignant full-page covers, often with a word or phrase in English. The exceptions are barely worthy of note. South China Morning Post centered its coverage on the London gathering of world leaders. Colonialism framed all coverage in South African media.

“Watching the events Monday, it is hard to believe we will ever see such a grand and powerful global television event again,” noted CNN analyst David Zurawik (September 19). “As technology and politics further fragment audiences, such shared national rituals and rites of passage seem less and less likely. Countries might stage them and new media platforms might cover them, but will we leave our siloes long enough to experience and participate in them with members of tribes we have battled on, say, Twitter?”

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