He’s out, but is George Santos truly gone?
The short answer is no, and I am not referring to the world of politics, the justice system, or the general public’s often short memory and inability to learn lessons from mistakes made due to ignorance.
News, talk, and entertainment are not done squeezing every drop they can from a situation that maybe news didn’t create but certainly enabled. The other two entities, talk and entertainment, will do what they do best, beat the dead horse and then exploit the hell out of it all for fun and profit.
Look at me, for example. This is the third time I’m writing about this guy and I doubt it will be the last.
There will still be lots to cover for the journalists out there; a special election to replace him, the legal processes that will transpire over who knows how long as he faces the 23 federal criminal counts that could put him away for as much as 20 years.
Already, and this should come as no surprise, there is a film already in development about George Santos and his journey into notoriety. Described of course as what will be a dark comedy, I imagine it will not be able to measure up to the reality that is the man.
Santos will no doubt go out on the talk circuit because attention is what he seeks and 11 months as a do-nothing U.S. Congressman from New York is still qualifying enough to get him a seat next to Chris Cuomo, Sean Hannity, and whoever is still on The View.
Bear in mind that for every tabloid appearance this guy makes there will be twice as many mentions from what some of us consider legitimate news outlets. Most of the coverage there will be gratuitous, even irrelevant but since Taylor and Travis are still above the fold and A-block worthy, I suppose we are not in a position to criticize.
The Fourth Estate loves scandal and outrageous behavior for a very simple reason; FOMO. (For anyone older than my kid, that’s “Fear of Missing Out”, folks.) We don’t want the competition scooping us on a story and, generally, we don’t want to wave off an attention-getting story even if the other guys don’t run with it.
In case there’s curiosity over my overuse of 1940’s newspaper terms it’s largely because I’m through the first two seasons of The Crown and I’ve become quite enamored with the British press of that time.
Face it, George Santos is a news media darling, but his value does diminish some now that he’s no longer in a position to do anything that could even remotely resemble substance or impact. Yes, he did virtually nothing as a lawmaker that could be covered as an actual news story but it’s pretty obvious that nobody in the business minded very much.
He has notoriety, not the good kind as far as humanity is concerned but it’s good to pitch in story meetings and it will be. The networks and the New York stations will mistake that notoriety for interest and confuse that interest for impact. That’s where we go wrong so many times, interest vs. impact, the lines are blurred so regularly that the audience no longer knows what they want. The familiar face and the easily recognizable name are usually all they need. Why we are talking about it is secondary.
George Santos will be around for quite a while and the news will cover it all and the people will know and remember his name. Then, perhaps he will go away for a while at the government’s direction and the taxpayers’ expense, only to show up again years from now, sitting across from a hologram of Chris Cuomo, Hannity, and the ghosts of The View, before joining season 67 of Dancing with The Stars.
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.
