Henley sings from the standpoint of a news anchormanwho "could have been an actor, but I wound up here", and thus is not a real journalist. Watch the video for Dirty Laundry from Eagles's Selected Works 1972-1999 for free, and … The song's theme is that TV news coverage focuses too much on negative and sensationalist news; in particular, deaths, disasters, and scandals, with little regard to the consequences or for what is important ("We all know that crap is king").
The song is about the callousness of TV news reporting as well as the tabloidization of all news. The song was inspired by the in… According to the Dirty Laundry Songfacts, In November of 1980, Henley was charged with … I make my living off the evening news Just give me something-something I can use People love it when you lose, They love dirty laundry Well, EAGLES - Dirty Laundry Lyrics.