"News" that isn't news

[Meg 368]

Whatever happened to real news?  Many news broadcasts contain very little actual news.

Much of what passes for news today falls into one of three categories:

-  Attention-seeking antics of people like Paris Hilton or Balloon Boy's parents;

-  Prying into people's personal lives regarding issues that are not our business; or

-  Someone's personal opinion about what is going on.

It is not news that Chelsea Clinton is engaged.  It's not her fault her parents are who they are.  Leave her alone.

All of the hoop-la involving the White House party crashers is news in that it points out lapses in Secret Service procedures but the crashers' fifteen minutes of fame should have been over long ago.

As for Tiger Woods, he issued a statement:  “Personal sins should not require press releases and problems within a family shouldn’t have to mean public confessions.”    Ya know what?   The man has a point!

As for issues that actually could be news, they tend to get watered down with various slants and commentaries from people trying to tell me what my opinion is.   Years ago, one of the first police shows on TV was a show called "Dragnet".  In it, a police detective would tell the witnesses "All we want are the facts, ma'am".

Is that to much to ask of a news station:  skip the fluff, skip the spin doctoring, just give me the facts?

/rant

[Z77 3]

Unfortunately news now is mainly "well i will get the most money for this, so i will go and cover this story...." I personally hate the today show anymore because, like i have said before, all it is anymore is people crying about their life problems. I feel the same way which is why i dont generally watch the news anymore. I look online for my news that way i can skip the news stories that i know are a load of balogna.

[Duke87 1,070]

Originally posted by: Meg

As for Tiger Woods, he issued a statement:  “Personal sins should not require press releases and problems within a family shouldn’t have to mean public confessions.”    Ya know what?   The man has a point!quote>

The nation's insatiable demand for gossip unfortunately ends up meaning that celebrities effectively have no right to privacy. No media outlet respects it because too many people want to know.

It's not a problem with the media, it's a problem with our whole culture. Where the demand is, the supply will go...

As for issues that actually could be news, they tend to get watered down with various slants and commentaries from people trying to tell me what my opinion is.   Years ago, one of the first police shows on TV was a show called "Dragnet".  In it, a police detective would tell the witnesses "All we want are the facts, ma'am".

Is that to much to ask of a news station:  skip the fluff, skip the spin doctoring, just give me the facts?quote>

Precious few people actually want "just the facts". Most people want to hear people agree with them. They want only the facts that support their opinion and the others glossed over. Because, you know, "they're wrong".

The really nasty part is that it's a self-reinforcing philosophy since a demand for agreement leads to indoctrination, and indoctrination leads to more demand for agreement.

It's, in large part, what's polarizing our nation.

And then you have the great political centrifuge - the effect where people tend to move to places full of like minded people. It's part of why there are "red states" and "blue states", and why in the future the red will get redder and the blue will get bluer.

[Jezus53 18]

Originally posted by: Duke87

Precious few people actually want "just the facts". Most people want to hear people agree with them. They want only the facts that support their opinion and the others glossed over. Because, you know, "they're wrong".

The really nasty part is that it's a self-reinforcing philosophy since a demand for agreement leads to indoctrination, and indoctrination leads to more demand for agreement.

It's, in large part, what's polarizing our nation.

And then you have the great political centrifuge - the effect where people tend to move to places full of like minded people. It's part of why there are "red states" and "blue states", and why in the future the red will get redder and the blue will get bluer.

quote>

This is 100% correct. If you ever go on vaction turn on the tv and watch their news. You will see how certain topics are portrayed differently than in your home town. Example, here in the San Francisco bay area NBC 11 was doing a report about the fight for same sex marriage, a very contreversial topic. Instead of give us the facts they gave us a twisted view of the facts. And after the report the news anchor decide to give her two cents about it. Then, when I was in Florida (not sure where in Florida...) they were talking about it and they twisted it towards being a negative thing. This (amongst other reasons) is why I no longer watch NBC for their news and why I swtched to KNTV (Local station) which is still a little biased to the liberal side, but they keep their mouths shut when it comes to their opinions. Also, I gatherr most of my news from the internet like Z77. But that can lead to another mess of problems.

[Muck308 55]

Originally posted by: Meg

As for Tiger Woods, he issued a statement:  “Personal sins should not require press releases and problems within a family shouldn’t have to mean public confessions.”    Ya know what?   The man has a point!

quote>

He does have a point, but he failed to present that point as well as he could have, since immediately after that statement, he apolgized. He would have made a more powerful statement by not apologizing.

I ask myself why I am seeing this type of story on the news often. But that Tiger Woods story was mentioned in the first few seconds of both the local and national news this evening. Come on.

[Tarkus 6,931]

Yeah, the Tiger Woods thing has been a little annoying lately.  The endless coverage of Michael Jackson's death was ridiculous, too.  They always seem to find the most irrelevant things and just beat them to death.  It gets old quick.

I have no problem if Entertainment Tonight or TMZ or whatever wants to cover that stuff, as that's what they're there for.  But the actual news shouldn't make it their primary goal to the detriment of more important and useful information. 

-Alex (Tarkus)

[chicah 20]

I think it's not working for the media, though. Ever since they got super-commercial, no one's bothering to buy newspapers anymore - they find the same gossip online anywhere, and even juicier gossip aswell. Reading the news with a coffee in the morning, there was something special about that... The youth of today has a different view when it comes to news, but I LOVE newspapers and would love to work in one myself one day - and I know that  there are a lot of great journalists out there who really burn for their job and want to write something that matters, but their boss tells them to just write crap. The independent magazines and the niche newspapers are increasing in sales, the commercial crap is decreasing. I doubt it's a coincidence...

Oh, and speaking of news that isn't news: I'm sick and tired of hearing about Tiger Woods.

[Streetwise 3]

I gave up television over three years ago, and I don't miss it one bit. 

My family used to own a local newspaper, and it was typical for a small-town publication, since it covered local news. Sure, there was the opinion page, the editorial columns, and the 'locals' (so-and-so had lunch with so-and-so on Friday, the Jones family went bowling this weekend, et), but these were separate from the true news, and not mixed in with it as is now the case (although I always thought the 'locals' should have been eliminated long before they actually were). We also had a local history section (double-page spread) written by a local historian. Again, our paper wasn't just news, but we kept the news separate from everything else.

What bothered me with TV news (and still does with radio news) is the transitions that are used from one reporter to another and/or story to another. For instance, when Matty's Wayside Inn in Chicago burned down a few months ago, the newsman on the radio began the story by saying "If you had reservations at Matty's Wayside Inn, too bad, because it burned down overnight..." I thought this was insensitive on the anchorman's part. Broadcast journalists have a tendency to attempt humor where it is inappropriate. For instance, very shortly after John Lennon was shot (I know, a long time ago), a local DJ was doing a tribute to him when, after saying something about the shooting, said, "and speaking of shooting, let's shoot for some more of John Lennon's music by playing...". Oh, and questions that really make me mad are ones such as: "Tell us, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, how do you feel about your children drowning in that flood?"  

I don't care about celebrities and their personal lives. This constant preoccupation with celebrity on the world's part is indicative of the fact that there are far too many people who need to rethink their priorities.  

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

"Reporters" these days are "News Makers" not "News Tellers".  So many have pipelines into the staffs of the real news makers that nothing much is a surprise any more.

[Firebird 40]

I'll step out of lurking mode for a moment and add my own $.02 to this thread, lol.

I stopped watching television news ages ago because of these before stated reasons. I get most of my news from various places around the internet nowadays, and from trusted reporters. It came to a point where it was just too annoying to stand for much longer.

Sometimes i would like to hear someones opinion on a news story... but the peoples opinion. Not the opinion of one of the silly anchors on FOX News-like stations who are more than likely biased toward a popular bandwagon. *coughglennbeckcough* *puke*

It seems the purpose of broadcast news is becoming more and more to entertain the people, and that's phasing out the actual 'news' part of 'News'. Once you do that, you basically have "            ", which I like to call similar to commercials. Hopefully there are still enough real reporters out there to make a difference in the future, however.

[Duke87 1,070]

Originally posted by: Firebird

Sometimes i would like to hear someones opinion on a news story... but the peoples opinion. Not the opinion of one of the silly anchors on FOX News-like stations who are more than likely biased toward a popular bandwagon. *coughglennbeckcough* *puke* quote>

Your mistake is trying to look at Glen Beck as a source of actual news opinion. If you can look at his show more as a spectacle of entertainment, it becomes a lot more enjoyable.

He's like Ron Paul. A lunatic, but you can't help but love him.

[Firebird 40]

Originally posted by: Duke87

Originally posted by: Firebird

Sometimes i would like to hear someones opinion on a news story... but the peoples opinion. Not the opinion of one of the silly anchors on FOX News-like stations who are more than likely biased toward a popular bandwagon. *coughglennbeckcough* *puke* quote>

Your mistake is trying to look at Glen Beck as a source of actual news opinion. If you can look at his show more as a spectacle of entertainment, it becomes a lot more enjoyable.

He's like Ron Paul. A lunatic, but you can't help but love him.

quote>

True, true. It does, lol. I enjoy the many laughs. Thing is, youd be suprised how many people take his spheil as actual news, sinces hes on a supposed 'News Network'. It gets annoying after a while. >.>

[Larks2242 251]

Originally posted by: Firebird

Originally posted by: Duke87

Originally posted by: Firebird

Sometimes i would like to hear someones opinion on a news story... but the peoples opinion. Not the opinion of one of the silly anchors on FOX News-like stations who are more than likely biased toward a popular bandwagon. *coughglennbeckcough* *puke* quote>

Your mistake is trying to look at Glen Beck as a source of actual news opinion. If you can look at his show more as a spectacle of entertainment, it becomes a lot more enjoyable.

He's like Ron Paul. A lunatic, but you can't help but love him.

quote>

True, true. It does, lol. I enjoy the many laughs. Thing is, youd be suprised how many people take his spheil as actual news, sinces hes on a supposed 'News Network'. It gets annoying after a while. >.>

quote>

People will believe anything, i'm sure there are people who think John Stewart is a real news show

[Easy Bakes 253]

Originally posted by: Larks2242

People will believe anything, i'm sure there are people who think John Stewart is a real news show quote>

What? The Daily Show is Fake news?

[hamsterTK 93]

The Simpsons parodies this everytime the family is watching TV with Kent Brockman..."Paris, the city of lights, is no more. But first, can dogs climb trees? Find out at 6". It's a pretty common recurring joke in the show

[Twentyone 0]

I agree. Living in two countries at the same time I get to see it from two perspectives.

There is so much non-news that does not really regard anyone or is 'news-worthy' anymore. It seems the world has gone mad and only wants to know who sleeps with who and what happened with whoever.. Tiger Woods being an example at the moment, yes.

I do think it is nice to see some 'happy' news every now and then about a personal recovery from something bad, and i dont mind that being inbetween the news of whats happening thats relevant to the public and all that. But iIt seems celebrity gossip is slowly taking over the real news and is getting the same priority as it.

Obama was recently in Norway to receive the Nobel prize, total sham since he has not done anything yet and it was all just the Norwegian Governments way of getting Obama to come to Norway. Anyways, what the newspapers focused more about was what they were wearing, who they travelled with, what they travelled in, where they sleep (oh wow!) and so on rather than the reason he was there and that it was wrong/right and the things he spoke about...

British news are the same. I have gotten to the point i cant be bothered to read the news most days. Its all celebrity gossip or a tragic story blown out of proportion 90% of the time