the political ring, and there is the panelist approach,
in which guests offering opposing points of view yell,
interrupt each other and roll their eyes a lot. This
fisticuffs approach of course has been good for the
news business—the so-called Trump bump—but for
a viewer flipping through the cable channels for ac-
tual information, it can be anxiety-producing.
Bahram Akradi, for example, is an avid consumer
of the news and also the CEO of Life Time, a health
and wellness company with more than 140 upscale
athletic clubs across the country. One of the clubs’
amenities are the televisions—some 50 to 60 per
club—for members to watch while working out.
They have always been great for multi taskers and
anyone who wants a distraction from their aching
muscles. But starting a few years ago, Akradi felt the
cable news broadcasts were offering the wrong kind
of diversion, one delivered in often harsh or demean-
ing tones. So in January 2018, he pulled the plug, or-
dering his managers to remove CNN, MSNBC and
Fox News from all Life Time television sets.
It was an easy decision to make, Akradi says now.
“We are promoting a healthy way of life, not just nu-exhibiting “the acute onset of paranoia... in reac-
tion to the policies” of the administration. Kraut-
hammer dubbed the phenomenon “Bush Derange-
ment Syndrome.” A decade later, the right found
itself suffering a similar affliction in reaction to
Barack Obama, whose two terms as commander in
chief were defined by overtly bitter partisanship in-
side the Beltway and overheated rhetoric outside it,
especially in conservative-leaning publications and
on talk radio. “It isn’t so much paranoia about Presi-
dent Obama’s policies as it is paranoia about the man
himself,” wrote Ezra Klein on the news site Vox in
- “That he is, in some fundamental way, differ-
ent, foreign, untrustworthy, even traitorous.”
Under the Trump administration, headline stress
disorder has ramped up, with critics spinning out-
raged news segments out of almost any develop-
ment, significant or otherwise, while right-wing
media do the same in reaction to moves by Speaker
of the House Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats.
There seem to be two main flavors of shows. There
is the opinionated-host format, in which a news-
caster preaches from his or her respective corner of
President Donald Trump and his Twitter feed are a frequent source
of turmoil for Americans of all political persuasions.