See Clint Black Blast the Media in Satirical ‘Calling It News’ Video
Clint Black weighs in on media coverage surrounding the current presidential race with the seriocomic “Still Calling It News,” a satirical tune he and longtime collaborator Hayden Nicholas wrote during the 2012 election cycle that remains just as frustratingly relevant today.
The video features clips from several news sources, from 24-hour outlets CNN (represented by Anderson Cooper 360° and Wolf Blitzer’s The Situation Room), FOX’s The O’Reilly Factor, hosted by conservative commentator Bill O’Reilly, as well as broadcast network news from ABC, CBS and others. The video reveals such “breaking news” items as “Dogs Are Super Cute,” and takes on candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton with fake headlines as “Trump Points Wildly” (accompanied by footage of numerous gestures from the Republican nominee) and “Hillary’s Night on the Town,” during which a clip of Trump’s opponent saying “I had double vision for a short period of time and I had dizziness,” is seen, albeit comically out of context.
In spite of the serious implications the media’s round-the-clock coverage has on swaying public opinion, the clip also emphasizes the occasional lighthearted moments the hosts and anchors experience, with the normally stoic anchors, including Cooper and FOX’s Megyn Kelly collapsing in fits of uncontrollable laughter.
“Still Calling It News” first appeared on Black’s 2015 LP On Purpose, but the video, he insists in a release, “shouldn’t be taken as a political statement, but rather as a way to illustrate how our focus has been steered away from the important issues facing our country today. If we had the footage, we probably could’ve made an equally absurd video of the Jefferson/Adams election.”