Planet America review: well, the news isn’t getting any better

Fans with long memories might recall the days when Planet America was a relatively light-hearted look at the news coming out of the United States.

Oddball political candidates and quirky laws would balance out more serious looks at economic developments and potentially major shifts. It was an entertaining show for political nerds and policy wonks; on a slow week there was always an alligator up to something in Florida.

It’s safe to say there haven’t been any quiet weeks in the USA for a long time now. When a once somewhat relaxed look at the American political system opens with a story that involves two civilians shot dead in the street by their own government for the crime of being mildly annoying towards paramilitary gunmen, there’s a bit of a vibe shift in the air.

He said, she said

Planet America has always operated as something of an explainer as far as the US goes. For a country that dominates our culture, much of our news coverage of it is remarkably superficial. So while there’s a good chance you already know the broad strokes of what’s being covered by hosts Chas Licciardello and John Barron, there’s a lot of valuable context provided here that our local news skips over.

It’s another sign of just how far the US has fallen that a lot of that context is Barron all but saying ‘they’re lying’ after one high-ranking government spokesperson or another calls a murder victim a ‘domestic terrorist’. And he’s the host who’s there to provide the basic facts; over and over statements from Trump officials are followed by Barron saying something like: ‘Once again, witness videos told a rather different story’.

The media environment in the US is basically an endless spiral of one side squaring off against the other, which makes the Planet America job a bit tricky. Almost every story turns into a series of partisan accusations and revelations; at times it feels like they should have moved on a couple of twists earlier.

But giving Australians an idea of how the US media is reporting on events is a big part of what the show does, and being shown the media swamp they’re stuck in goes a long way towards explaining how Americans react to events.

Interrupting the spin cycle

While Barron is the steady hand at the wheel, Chas – who got his start on our screens as a member of The Chaser – provides coverage that’s a bit more colourful. His collection of t-shirts celebrating the greatest hits of the US political system (the t-shirt of choice this week featured a sax-playing Bill Clinton) is a mainstay, as are his flailing hands when the news gets to be a little too much.

His increasing incredulity as he reads out yet another example of a deranged or openly corrupt system (such as ICE agents investigating themselves for murder) is always a highpoint of each episode. It’s remarkable how comforting it can be to hear someone pointing out that yes, that thing that we’re expected to take at face value is, in fact, insane.

There’s almost always an interview with an expert in the second half of the episode; this week they spoke to a state prosecutor hoping to put federal ICE agents on trial. And after stories about the US kidnapping foreign leaders and threatening to invade Greenland, it’s important to end on an upbeat note, such as a fake ad for the documentary on Trump’s wife Meliana, currently bombing at the box office around the world.

Planet America is a fast-paced show that packs in a lot of information while remaining clear and concise. What’s noticeable is just how much time the stories being covered require to be properly explained; when you have two distinct and often contradictory versions of what’s going on being put out there, and the one that’s a collection of lies is coming from official spokespeople, it’s going to take a little time to get to the bottom of things.

Which is the point: modern news reporting is measured in minutes, if not seconds, and if those in power can muddy the water enough, then the news will do their job for them. By cutting through that, Planet America is doing an essential job of explaining what’s going on in the nation that, culturally at least, matters most to Australians. Even if we don’t have alligators here.

Planet America airs Mondays on the ABC, and is available to stream on ABC iview.

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