Why was the media so bored in between W’s inauguration and 9/11?

[darklordoftech]

They were so bored that they talked about shark attacks. Why didn’t they cover what Bush and Congress were doing?

[Sumner 1868]

No more how much remnant Reaganites try to deny it, the fact is that tax cuts are inherently boring.

[All Along The Watchtower]

[Blue3]

Because people were accepting it was "the end of history" for a few years by that point, and thought Y2K would be the biggest thing to happen for years.

[NewYorkExpress]

Wait, you mean a Congressman (Condit) being accused of murdering an intern is boring to you?

What media have you people been watching?

[dead0man]

The media talks about shark attacks every time there is a shark attack, doubly so if it's a pretty white girl and/or they've got a good video of it.  It doesn't matter if it's a slow news day, or a Covid/Trump/BLM news day, if a shark attacks a pretty white lady on video, they're going to spend some time on that.  While a shark attack in the ocean isn't a national news story, at least it makes more sense than "strip club shot up in Baltimore, 1 gang member dead, 4 gang members wounded" as at least shark attacks are rare.

OP, are you even old enough to remember?

[darklordoftech]

Wait, you mean a Congressman (Condit) being accused of murdering an intern is boring to you?

I’m not saying that I found it boring. I’m saying that the CEOs ans shareholders of the media companies found it boring.

[Calthrina950]

The period between January and September 2001 was uneventful, to put it mildly. There are only two events that I can think of from that period: the passage of the first round of Bush tax cuts in June 2001 (which was noted above) and the execution of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh that same month. McVeigh, in fact, was executed exactly three months before 9/11-which I consider to be a unsettling omen.

The 2000 election itself was relatively boring until the Florida debacle, dominated largely by discussion of domestic policy and Bush's efforts to restore "honor and dignity" to the White House in the aftermath of the Clinton Administration's scandals (i.e. Monica Lewinsky, Whitewater, Travelgate, etc.). In general, the United States seemed to pass through some kind of a "peaceful" or less unstable interlude on the international stage, from the fall of the Soviet Union to 9/11, and the first half of 2001 was the final phase of that interlude.

[TheElectoralBoobyPrize]

There was....

1. The Jeffords switch that gave Democrats the Senate
2. Controversy over Clinton’s pardons and other last-minute actions
3. Bush and Blair bombed Iraq
4. Robert Hanssen
5. The China spy plane incident

However, I noticed all these things were before the summer. By September 10, the media was really bored and talking about Gary Condit/Chandra Levy and shark attacks. I’m old enough to remember...

[Beet]

This was a period of great tragedy. RIP Aaliyah.

[Suburbia]

This was a period of great tragedy. RIP Aaliyah.