The Bush administration secured the release of the twenty four American hostages held by Communist China.

After some initial missteps, which could only have been designed for the consumption of Bush's hard right base
(as opposed to China's leaders), the Bush Administration began handling the situation in a fairly predictable fashion.
Indeed, the conclusion of the negotiations had the distinct appearance of the handiwork of career diplomats at the
State Department. Within the final deal, the United States gave up little of substance. Ignoring China's possession
of the spy plane, the strategic interests of both parties remained in essentially the same position they were when
the crisis began. In that regard, the matter was likely resolved in a manner similar to how it would have been
handled by any other administration, which is to say, as it should have been handled. If only the same could be
said for the media's coverage of the events.

For years, the American media has taken news events like the Chinese hostage crisis and has saturated their
coverage to ever higher levels of breathless exaggeration. Who can forget the round the clock updates that
accompanied the OJ Simpson trial, the LA riots, the deaths of Princess Diana and John F. Kennedy Jr.,
and most recently, the Florida recount?

This over-hyped coverage of these prior stories should really come as no surprise. Ted Turner himself readily admits
that CNN became a force in journalism with its live, on the scene coverage of the Gulf War. In a similar manner,
the Clinton Impeachment was perhaps the defining event for the MSNBC and Fox cable news services.

In that context, what is most interesting about the China hostage crisis was the media's rather muted coverage.
The coverage of events in China stand in stunning contrast to the coverage of a similar crisis in Iran twenty years prior.
As any American can no doubt recall, with each passing day of the events in 1980, the nightly news broadcast of
every major network opened with the sensationalized headlines:

"America Held Hostage: Day 32"

Indeed, it was the constant coverage of the Iranian hostage crisis that propelled Ted Koppel and a little-watched
late night news show called "Nightline" into national prominence.

Where were the slick graphics and breathless headlines for these more recent events?

"China Holds America Hostage: Day 9?"

Where were the round the clock updates, exploring every detail tangentially related to the crisis, no matter how remote?

The answer, perhaps, lies in the glaring conflict of interest the media has in covering these events. After the radical Shiites
had seized power in Iran, any American interests which existed in the county were essentially written off. Few if any
of the network news organizations had anything of significant economic value to lose by permanently fracturing
relationships with the radical elements who had seized power in Iran.

In contrast, every major broadcaster has significant investments in China, either directly or through their parent
corporations, and significant reasons to preserve bi-lateral relations between the US and China, even if China is
governed by ruthless dictators who imprison, torture and murder dissidents. Whether one considers Rupert Murdock's
Skytel satellite broadcast system, or General Electric's hydro-electric generator sales, any escalation of tensions was
decidedly bad policy from the perspective of the bottom line of the major broadcast companies and their parent
corporations. So it should come as no surprise to anyone that the media declined the opportunity to sensationalize
the crisis, as we have come to expect.

But if the understated coverage of these recent events in China have left fans of shock journalism feeling let down,
they shouldn't worry. It won't take long before another story which doesn't threaten corporate profits breaks.
As soon as it does, Americans should have every confidence that the All Hype-All The Time tabloid journalism
we have come to loath will be back with a vengeance.