As I reflect on today’s events, from Fox News’ treatment of Kurt Vonnegut’s death to the endless Anna Nicole Smith updates to the stories that never go beyond the ink of newspapers to today’s events at Virginia Tech University I find myself once again comparing TV News to Newspapers.
Those that know me will tell you, every time I get on this topic I reach the same conclusion. TV News has become too much of a business and isn’t allowed to practice news gathering and reporting the correct way.
I don’t believe that TV folks don’t want to deliver the news that matters, they just aren’t allowed to. And as new people step into the economically driven corporate run news system they are forced to report on the news that brings in viewers.
Think about it, how can we possibly have let the Smith story take precedence over the story of an astronaut in a diaper that got past NASA security and threated to kill a jilted lover? Not only is it much more sensational (come’on diapers!) but it has more to do with national issues of security, the space program, mental health angles and such views that effect the public much more than the passing of a G-List celebrity.
This is why I mourned the loss of Ted Koppel from the daily news cycle.
Anyway, it’s time to laugh now…