“News”
If the gods of the news could grant me one wish, it would be that the news actually did news. I’m not criticizing the “as seen on TV” Mary Friona nonsense. I’m talking about the standard-issue cable news fare that has jettisoned actual, hard news for idiotic “screaming jerk right winger versus screaming jerk left winger” “debates”. The Today show just did a “story” about last week’s Opus comic, which poked fun at radical Islam. Some papers refused to run the cartoon, and Matt Lauer had to referee a screaming match between a right-winger who was outraged - OUTRAGED that some papers were to chicken to run a provocative cartoon, and a left-wing guy who was outraged - OUTRAGED that the right-wing guy didn’t recognize the editorial right of a paper not to run something it found provocative.
I don’t know who either of these two people are, nor do I want to. What passes for news and discourse in this country has devolved into little more than a WWE match, full of sound and fury signifying nothing.
Here’s a question that a Miss Teen contestant totally demolished:
Now what that really shows is a very, very nervous teenager put on the spot during a live nationally televised event, and she can be excused for her inarticulate answer. But since “news” seldom contains actual news, or else contains very quick batches of sound bites about a small selection of the day’s events, Americans aren’t being made aware of what’s really going on in the world. Forget whether they can find the US on a map. Do they know about the crisis in Zimbabwe? Can they find Darfur on a map?
Sometimes we live in this bubble of information that’s hard to pop.
Carl Says:August 29th, 2007 at 11:19 pm
Alan: News has been going downhill for decades,ever since the corporations that own the stations and networks stopped looking at their news divisions as loss leaders and made it pull its own weight ratings-wise. Thank heavens the BBC and,to a point,CBC can still give you quality news for the most part.
And….screaming right-winger versus screaming left-winger? Don’t you mean screaming right winger versus total wuss?
hank kaczmarek Says:August 30th, 2007 at 4:17 am
Alan, couldn’t agree more. Even worse is watching
A. Sean Hannity overtalk a leftie
B. Alan Colmes overtalk a rightie.
Sean gets overbearing. Alan Colmes’ wife HAS to know she’s married to a total pussy. Either way, it’s NOT news.
One newspaper towns like Buffalo and Charlotte don’t help much either.
The idea that “Blood and Scandal Sell” so that’s what they go for flies in the face of a press that for almost 14 years never took a picture of their President in his wheelchair/leg braces showing, or made an expose’ of a young handsome President who was knocking off his secretaries 3 at a time in the White House Pool. AND THEY ALL KNEW ABOUT IT.
THAT is an example of the press not reporting something provocative,
indabuff Says:August 30th, 2007 at 8:34 am
People don’t want news…the want to be entertained…
indabuff Says:August 30th, 2007 at 8:34 am
People don’t want news…they want to be entertained…