Brendan:

Theater has no place in dissemination of information. It is not, never was, and never will be, "news", regardless of how important you think it is. That is the only injustice here.

What's the difference between it and celebrity/entertainment news?

It has no place.

You should just be thankful that you can buy the coverage, man.

@5 -- wow, that's a really narrow definition of "news" you're depending on.

I'm not going to go to any length to address the difference between art news (i.e. a ideas-based discussion of a new play, a new novel, or a new piece of music) vs. celebrity news (a expose of Lindsay Lohan's latest public foible and what it means for her career), because I think that distinction is pretty self-evident, though you can make an argument that the latter is important, since what Lohan does exerts an incredible gravitational pull on our culture.

Theater, or art in general, is definitely newsworthy. Art discusses the ideas that will dominate economics, politics, society -- in a word, our culture, and our existence -- long before those ideas generally make their way to happenings you may consider "news." Through this lens, the way art is discussed in the media is very important.

Freud said once: "Everywhere I go, I find a poet has been there before me." Art and the ideas it discusses -- these things are about the future. They are a foreshadowing of conversations you will have and changes in the environment that you will cope with whether you think of them as newsworthy now.

Art is important to you, whether you know it or not. It will change your world, whether you recognize its effects or not. Best pay attention.

@7

NO. It is not newsworthy.

I reiterate: no matter how important you think Theater is, it is not the Journalists' burden to report on your new play.

Further, Brendon is feigning ignorance to assert that paying for content is some brand new scandal enacted by KING 5.

While I admire his outrage, it is completely misdirected here in regard to a TOTAL FLUFF DAYTIME TALK SHOW.

@8 -- oh good, a little fight. Yay!

Um, I didn't say anything about "the journalists burden." Local news and local TV coverage is a joke anyway. Who cares what they report? I don't think there's a "burden" in regards to journalists except for their economic imperative to sell their content to advertisers.

But, since you bit, I'm curious why you think theater, and here I'm going to suggest we re-frame this conversation to discuss art, isn't newsworthy. I'm going to ask you to define newsworthiness, and then tell me why art isn't. Can you do that?

I say that art is important, and that it is newsworthy, whether or not there's an economic incentive to report it, and regardless that there is no "burden" of journalism to make it part of the news.

Come on, tell me what you think.

9:

"Um, I didn't say anything about 'the journalists burden.' Local news and local TV coverage is a joke anyway"

You just heaped paragraphs on this, even invoking Freud, in an attempt to assert to me and others that theater is of grave importance to the community...

That which is of grave importance to the community is of grave importance to a journalist and thus, is the burden of a true journalist.

The only problem is, this is not actually of any importance to the community.

KING 5 doesn't owe it to the community to report on your new play. KING 5 does not have to face unwarranted and outrageous scrutiny for not covering your art piece, nor any other art piece.

If you really want to start splitting hairs, what is the difference between Lindsay Lohan's performance and YOUR performance?

Your sordid question of newsworthiness is actually that of what is or isn't art (to you, your play is art; Linday Lohan's new movie is not art.)

Subjectivity is maddening and so is your outrage.

KING 5, or any other local news outlet, doesn't owe you shit.

If nobody cares, and it is not a "public interest" story, you're gonna need to buy the coverage yourself.

Case closed.

@11 -- I'm not advocating for arts coverage specifically, I'm arguing for its newsworthiness, it's import to you and me.

And, I don't have a show. I'm not a performer.

Lindsay Lohan's movie is art. But a discussion of her latest foible is not a discussion of art, it's a discussion of an artist's non-art activities. I think you can see the distinction there.

I'm not outraged at KING 5 for not covering art, or for covering it under this scheme. I don't think Brendan is, either. I'm not outraged at you. I don't think there's any outrage in my tone. I don't generally do outrage.

I just think you don't recognize how important art is, and that's okay, but it means that you don't see how our civilization and consciousness is manufactured by the spinners of stories and ideas. And that's okay, but it means that you're clueless about the origins of the ideas that make up your mind and your identity. That's okay too, since mostly no one else does either.

Art is definitely newsworthy. Oh, and popular demand is not evidence of importance.

Also, I don't think there is such a thing as a "true journalist." What would that be?

@4 - No!! No no no. There is no pay for stories at KUOW. I was offered a free cooking class after doing a story on a cooking school and turned that down because these boundaries are extremely important.

Doesn't The Stranger auction off coverage?

I walk with Brendan. As a veteran of Theatrical and entertainment industry marketing and PR on both coasts, I can tell you:

1. King5 is doing a lame thing here, blurring the lines with more BS advertorial
2. Theatre and art ARE news. And they should be. Even when it's entertainment news, it's news. Just as business news is news. Are we three years old and can't grasp such simple constructs?!!! The bumbling, tea-bagger schmucks posting here (Bought and Paid For) that claim otherwise are exactly why guns are glorified in the USA and art is for "art-fags". Disgusting and myopic. I'm amazed these same people can read, let alone would pick up the Stranger.
3. We've hit a point where almost all media is owned by media conglomerates and 19th century yellow journalism is the rule of the day. Worse, all but the darkest of corners of opportunity have been bought up by these megacorp owners so that unlike in 1880, there's little opportunity to start a news delivery outfit that'll get viewers/readers/listeners without huge investment, the investment that's usually now in those media conglomerates that run everything.
4. From KUOW to King5 to Diane Sawyer's ABC World News to Inside Edition, bumbling, under-educated spokesmodels without a true understanding of the world read cue card news, or worse (Steve Scher) are convinced they know more than they do and either tow a middle-America line or the NPR Clinton-Democrat Baby Boomer ignorance schtick.

Somewhere out in left field, a reporter from the Guardian weeps with Dan Savage.

Some people need to seriously pull their heads out of their asses and relax. New Day Northwest is a DAYTIME TALK SHOW which I and other people enjoy. Its not a newscast. Also, its giving Seattle arts more exposure and no one is forcing anyone to participant. Enjoy the free ENTERTAINMENT fuck tards