Here is a new show that premiered just a few days ago on MTV. It is called “How’s Your News?”, and the premise is a small group of disabled people traveling the country reporting the news. The blurb (click here) calls it an “outrageous, inspiring cast of reporters with disabilities, road–tripping across America.”
Here is the promotional video:
I’m curious to see what people think about this. On the one hand, I think it is terrific to see any underserved population represented in the media. On the other, this is MTV- the television station that is owned by the same company that brought you “Special Ed” (a developmentally disabled crank caller on the show Crank Yankers), the Johnny Knoxville movie, “The Ringer” (which I have only seen a part of, but I believe it is about a loser who enters the Special Olympics), not to mention Jackass. Is “How’s Your News?” supposed to be simply what it is being sold as– a feel good show about people who often fall by the wayside in popular culture?
If this is true, then a couple of questions come to mind: a) what does it say about either television or MTV viewers if it gets canceled early due to poor ratings, or b) what if its popularity leads to gross insensitivity (catchphrases, t-shirts, etc.)?
On a network like MTV, where is the line between “inspiring” and minstrelsy? Or is that up to us, the viewers?
Honestly, I am on the fence with this one, and would very much like to hear what people have to say.
