They’re now drifting into Chicago, the first of the thousands of media people who will be covering the Democratic convention.
And many already face the gut-wrenching possibility that they will not find anything to write about, broadcast or film.
In other words, what if there is no news?
No news is a frightening prospect, considering that most of these thousands of media people are in the news business.
But as many of them discovered in San Diego, you can have a political convention without anything being really new. Before the conventions begin, we know who the candidates are, what the platform is, and that all the speakers will tell us how eager they are to enrich our lives.
Consider that TV star Ted Koppel packed up “Nightline” and left the Republican convention early because he said there were so few real stories.
In fact, his leaving in a huff because he couldn’t find news became even bigger news than the news he couldn’t find would have been had he found it.
Which just shows how hard it is to cover today’s perfectly rehearsed, pre-scripted, tippy-toe political shindigs.
But the media hordes shouldn’t get too discouraged. Because the convention is being held in Chicago, they are in luck. All sorts of stories can be manufactured without too much effort.
There is always the wonderful but infamous 1968 convention. My guess is that before next week ends, the ’68 convention will probably receive as much TV time as the convention we’re supposed to be covering.
That’s because riots are one of the most entertaining forms of TV violence and viewers never tire of them. Even a small riot is more gripping than some windy keynote speech.
And there is endless old footage of demonstrators screaming and throwing stuff at Chicago cops, cops thwacking the heads of demonstrators and dragging them to paddy wagons, demonstrators climbing trees or falling out of trees, and other giddy moments.
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But is that news? Actually, no, since it happened 28 years ago and most of those burly cops are now white-haired pensioners, while many of the shrieking young demonstrators are middle-age professors or government bureaucrats.
However, it can become news, and the process is simple. You just interview some of today’s better-mannered Chicago cops and show how friendly and public relations-conscious they are. And how many more are minorities and women.
Which then gives you an excuse to again show the wild and crazy scenes from the 1968 convention in contrast to today’s calm.
Actually, it would be a better story if today’s cops went a bit berserk and sprayed us with tear gas or conked our noggins, but we have to make do with what we have.
Another natural story is to find some of the leaders of the ’68 demonstrations and ask them to provide a historical perspective on what they did and what they accomplished. They still love to talk about how historically significant they were.
And these interviews could be even more insightful if you ask: “Tell us the truth–were you really against the Vietnam War for moral reasons, or were you simply afraid that you would be drafted and have your white upper-middle-class butt shot off? And would you have been screaming in the streets if there was no draft and you were in no danger?”
Well, what’s the harm in asking?
One of the most frequently interviewed delegates at this convention is sure to be Tom Hayden, who was probably the most intelligent and levelheaded of all the demonstration leaders.
While most of the other anti-war figures are dead or have drifted into obscurity, Hayden was intelligent and levelheaded enough to marry Jane Fonda.
Fonda, an ideological bubble-head, allowed him to lead the good life in California while financing his political career, which made him a mainstream liberal in the California Legislature.
Hayden has been in and out of Chicago several times recently, trying to hustle Mayor Richard Daley into putting up some kind of monument as a testimonial to the ’68 protesters.
Think about that: Hayden helped provoke the late Richard J. Daley into a temper tantrum that turned the 1968 convention into a street brawl. This helped defeat Hubert Humphrey and elect Richard Nixon, which brought us the national migraine of Watergate.
And it didn’t do anything to end or shorten the Vietnam War.
After all that, he wants Richard J. Daley’s son to put up a monument honoring him.
Didn’t I tell you Hayden was one smart guy? Next, he might ask Daley to name him honorary police chief.
Daley hasn’t said what he’s going to do about Hayden’s request. But I can give the mayor some practical advice. If he wants to keep the big retired cops vote, he should decline Hayden’s monument proposal.
Instead, he should hit Hayden on the head. For old-times’ sake.