Then something changed. Network executives decided that they wanted to turn their news organizations into money-making enterprises. Pretty soon, we started seeing lots of flashy graphics and dramatic music for even the most mundane of stories. Then the "crawlers" started appearing on the bottom of the screen - don't care about that particular news story? That's okay, because we have 12 others running along the bottom of the screen to keep your ADD brain occupied. Not enough? That's okay, because now we have "NEWS ALERTS!" Sounds important, right? It's not. Just another tool to keep your eyes glued to the screen.
Then the ads started. The shameless self-promoting ads from the news organizations that touted just how good they were at bringing you the news. Each network claimed to be "number one." I'm sure that they each were "number one" at something, but I have no idea as to what it was. It was like the cola wars all over again. I started longing for the days when news used to be "boring."
After that, the talking heads appeared. Under the pretense of getting all sides to a story, networks started inviting non-reporters on their news shows to give their opinion and have spirited debates over issues - or so I thought. Instead of debate, we wound up with two or more polar-opposite people trying to talk over each other while the poor news anchor tried to maintain some sense of order.
But what I saw as unwelcome chaos, network executives saw as "drama," and apparently so did millions of TV news viewers. Before long, all of the big cable news networks had people yelling at each other onscreen. One cable news network decided to brand this organized chaos as their tag-line. "Fair and Balanced," they called it. I called it rubbish.
But why bother with the pretense? Why not just give these talking heads their own shows? BRILLIANT! This was the point where the dam burst and the flood of faux news spilled all over the television landscape. Now we have an entire cast of lunatics on TV all telling us that we should be TERRIFIED that some public official has done something that may or may not make our lives a living hell. I speak of such non-news brokers as Glen Beck, Rachel Maddow, Lou Dobbs, Keith Olbermann, Sean Hannity, Nancy Grace, Chris Matthews and others like them who don't actually report a damn thing. They spend all of their time trying to make us frightened by telling us that either those damn liberals or those damn conservatives or some other damn group are going to screw up the entire country. Every day the rhetoric gets louder and louder, and I see more and more people affected by it. My brother has conveniently coined a term for this type of "news." He calls it "Golden Shower Journalism." It's so gross that you can't bear to look away.
This is not debate. This is not news. This is ENTERTAINMENT disguised as news. And yet it is more than that: It is the disintegration of civil discourse in American society. It is the end of discussion, debate and compromise. It is people YELLING AT each other instead of talking to and listening to each other. Reason has gone out the window, replaced by fear - fear that keeps people coming back to watch more, wanting to see what that they are up to next. Because the price of freedom is vigilance! We've got to watch out for them! They will be the downfall of this nation, mark my words!
Folks, there is no "them." There is only "we." We can have different opinions and ideas, but in the end we are all citizens of one nation. WE need to send a signal to these news networks that this kind of FILTH needs to be taken off the air.
I don't watch ANY cable news after 4PM. In fact, the ONLY cable news I watch nowadays is Headline News' "Morning Express." They report the news, and then they SHUT UP. No commentary, no opinion, no "debate." After that, I get my news from NPR.
I don't need a bunch of high-paid talking heads to do my debating for me - and neither do you. Let's send these idiots a message by NOT patronizing their nonsense any longer. BRING BACK REAL NEWS!
No comments:
Post a Comment