Reading...
Just happened to be reading commondreams.org and read Arianna Huffington’s piece about the news and what makes a news story. Very interesting actually. Her main solution is to turn the station...in effect boycott the news. This is not with out just cause. I've actually been boycotting or just refusing to give news stations (and TV) my time. It's really very trashy, actually. There seems to be no real sense of community or an attempt to aim toward professional journalism. The only ones I can say does this is BBC news and Yahoo news. I’ll read the top 7 news headlines on Yahoo and that’s about it. I prefer not to wallow in yellow journalism (most of the time), in blatant over-the-top commercialism and news sponsored by so many corporations. It's just ridiculous.
I stopped watching TV news awhile ago when I saw news reporters wearing trendy tight outfits...Usually and almost always it was the women who have to be subjected to this crap. Then it got to be where you'd only hear about entertainment and the spectacle. You'd really hear this in Los Angeles, where I'm originally from. There was nothing about communities and nothing about the little suburbs around LA on these stations.
I was actually impressed for awhile when I came to this little town of Altoona. They actually talked about companies in the area either downsizing or recently, new companies starting up (very few, unfortunately). But even these news stations are starting to succumb to the pressure to be "hip" and "trendy". The women are starting to wear youthful or rather sleazy looking clothing and the stories are starting to look and sound a bit too familiar.
There is a way of reporting news that doesn't have to be bland or be about Michael Jackson. There is a way because I've seen it on BBC and it's very interesting. I'd say it's even caught the current administrations attention...They're trying to cut funding to PBS and NPR. These are the few stations that are moderate and level headed. Usually you can find stories on NPR and PBS from all walks of life and humorous bits that would NEVER be shown on regular news shows. Unless of course, the story featured a blond, plastic young person in great or minor peril. But do we all want to only see various forms of Barbie dolls? I don't think so. I know I sure don't. Even if a person has a leaning towards a particular belief, political view, etc. there should be the opportunity to listen to classical music, see a Mr. Rodgers rerun, or hear a different point of view. This is what makes our country one of the more interesting countries after all. All of the variety and the oddities and all the blue ribbons and all the rapping, all of this makes our country so much more interesting. This is what makes our country a community and I, for one, want to hear about it.
I stopped watching TV news awhile ago when I saw news reporters wearing trendy tight outfits...Usually and almost always it was the women who have to be subjected to this crap. Then it got to be where you'd only hear about entertainment and the spectacle. You'd really hear this in Los Angeles, where I'm originally from. There was nothing about communities and nothing about the little suburbs around LA on these stations.
I was actually impressed for awhile when I came to this little town of Altoona. They actually talked about companies in the area either downsizing or recently, new companies starting up (very few, unfortunately). But even these news stations are starting to succumb to the pressure to be "hip" and "trendy". The women are starting to wear youthful or rather sleazy looking clothing and the stories are starting to look and sound a bit too familiar.
There is a way of reporting news that doesn't have to be bland or be about Michael Jackson. There is a way because I've seen it on BBC and it's very interesting. I'd say it's even caught the current administrations attention...They're trying to cut funding to PBS and NPR. These are the few stations that are moderate and level headed. Usually you can find stories on NPR and PBS from all walks of life and humorous bits that would NEVER be shown on regular news shows. Unless of course, the story featured a blond, plastic young person in great or minor peril. But do we all want to only see various forms of Barbie dolls? I don't think so. I know I sure don't. Even if a person has a leaning towards a particular belief, political view, etc. there should be the opportunity to listen to classical music, see a Mr. Rodgers rerun, or hear a different point of view. This is what makes our country one of the more interesting countries after all. All of the variety and the oddities and all the blue ribbons and all the rapping, all of this makes our country so much more interesting. This is what makes our country a community and I, for one, want to hear about it.
Comments