If there was anything to take away from the U.S. coverage of the coronation of King Charles III, the search for it is likely still in progress.
Certainly, there was no shortage of American media either here or abroad to catch every bit of the excitement, adoration, and regal electricity but unfortunately, there was an obvious lacking in all those things. There were times in between the trumpets blaring and horses’ hoofs clopping that I was sure I heard crickets chirping.
I have mentioned previously that the reason American television devotes so much coverage to the Royal family is that most of the time, it is exactly what the American people want. Be it the Queen’s final days, the estrangement of Harry and Meghan, Will and Kate, Will and Grace even, whatever. You want it, they’ll give it to you, in spades. You want royal coverage; you shall have royal coverage.
And now, we have Charles in charge, but I’m thinking with that, the line has finally been crossed and it may finally have come to pass that the King and his court may have to be shoved in a drawer for a while, at least by our newspeople.
That’s not because of any lack of effort in the coronation media coverage and the ceremonial visuals of royal traditions, there was plenty of all that.
There were rich costumes, iconic scenery, and lots of well-dressed horses but despite all of that, our networks and cable channels try as they may, could not turn this into what I’m sure everyone was hoping for.
Dipping into early morning TV coverage without the benefit of coffee so I could hopefully return to bed, I switched around and found pretty much all our presentations rather muted, lacking energy, and noticeably avoiding most discussions of the discord, controversy, and public ill-will in favor of letting the live images tell the story.
In many cases, this would be enough, even well received but regretfully it was not. There was far more energy at Queen Elizabeth’s funeral. Good for her, bad for Charles, and worse for those in charge of royal coverage from here on.
Yes, the Queen is dead, and, in more ways than one for the audience, King Charles is not the queen. Not even close. Queen Elizabeth was all most of America ever knew and she was part of the television news scenery. She fit all the requirements that the media and their audience ever needed to be filled. You could respect her, vilify, or even fear her if you wanted. She could be parodied on film and television yet a lot of us thought she had class.
I am not eulogizing Queen Elizabeth, and I would not be surprised at all if she had been an absolute tyrant, but it is more than obvious that the news media and our followers had and have a broad affection for her, something I’m fairly certain does not exist for Charles. There is no show of or real sense of sentiment for him and although things could soften eventually, I doubt there ever will be.
He is not regal or cuddly and so with the shine of the House of Windsor gone with the Queen, the focus is more on what people do not like about the monarchy. The awful and distasteful moments in the long history, not just the Diana days or the Andrew, Harry, and Meghan destruction, but generations going back.
Charles is not Hollywood, he’s not technicolor and I’m quite sure he is not good for ratings.
Lovely as they may be, William and Kate lack sustainable media charisma so all we are left with for the foreseeable future is a couple of cute kids.
So, the intense, wall-to-wall, or at least driven, coverage of the royals may not be a sustainable plan in the future. And there is nothing wrong with that. Times change, palates change and there are always more selections on the menu to choose from in the days ahead.
Is this the American people’s problem? No, not really.
It can become a problem for the American news media of course unless they figure out a way to take the country’s temperature. Going forward, it will be prudent to be sure this is what the people want and if it is not, don’t try to force it down their throats. There are too many options out there.
Let the BBC, ITV, and Sky News worry about it all by themselves now. The CBC and ABC (Australia) can tag along if they so choose.
It does not have to be our problem now, there are a lot of other newsworthy royal families out there.
Bill Zito has devoted most of his work efforts to broadcast news since 1999. He made the career switch after serving a dozen years as a police officer on both coasts. Splitting the time between Radio and TV, he’s worked for ABC News and Fox News, News 12 New York , The Weather Channel and KIRO and KOMO in Seattle. He writes, edits and anchors for Audacy’s WTIC-AM in Hartford and lives in New England. You can find him on Twitter @BillZitoNEWS.
