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The news is full of Governor Rod Blagojevich and his desire to turn the appointment of a U.S. Senator into a windfall for him and his family. I’m already tired of hearing about it. Why does the media latch onto these stories, about which there is very little news, and beat them to death, ignoring the other news that deserves to be reported?
That is the worst of the 24/7 news cycle. You’d think it would mean that we would get more news, but actually we get less. There doesn’t seem to be any concern among the media that they have a duty to tell us about everything that happens, not just everything about the day’s top story.
What surprises me most, however, is the dearth of material we actually get. TV cameramen take miles of film (all right, gigs of pixels), but all we see is one loop, sometimes as short as 15 seconds, running over and over under the voiceover of anchors and analysts saying the same things ad infinitum, most of which is speculation about what might be discovered tomorrow. And if you watch more than one show, you see that same footage under the voices of different anchors and different analysts – who are saying much the same things..
Television brings us closer to the rest of the world, but only to the part of the world the people running it think we will be interested in. Usually, they’re right. Their audience does, indeed, want to see the umpteenth special on Jonbenet Ramsey or the latest blond college girl who has disappeared.
The Internet, on the other hand, gives us what we want to see – or at least as much of it as someone else is willing to put up there. Those websites could be a tool to show us layers and layers of information about a story. Instead, they are too often tools to provide totally slanted, often totally inaccurate “information.”
Some super-highway!
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3 comments:
Keep it coming. It helps to hear the analysis of the democracy articulated outside the babble and spin of the media. No axes...just commentary...okay...toss in an axe or two just to cut it up sometimes.
This is why you need to support my vice-presidential campaign--not only can I see Russia from my house, but I have pledgedt do something about Missing White Woman Syndrome. I feel strongly that black and Hispanic women who go missing deserve an equal opportunity to be the focus of a pointless media circus!
I must say reading your daily thought and feelings on the current situations in the world is now something I look forward to. It has giving me infomation I don't know as I do not have time to watch the news, or any TV for that matter. I see enough of the bad and get the news first as a Stenographer for the Kansas City Police Department Violent Crimes Unit.
I am sure Eric will appreciate the beer in recession one you wrote, as we are ones that have stopped buying beer. He's been completly sober for over a month now. Yeah!
And might I say to Jr. as my cousin in-law, you have my vote, I think the Missing White Women Syndrome has gone to far! In Kansas City they get their picture posted on billboards. I have yet to see a black or Hispanic on a billboard next to the tips hotline number.
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