What's Wrong With the News

I grew up during the late 70's and into the 80's so I didn't have the pleasure of watching the brilliant newscasters like Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite. I vaguely remember seeing Cronkite right before he left the air, but I was too young to process the information. There are still some individuals that I think represent the quality of work close to these gentlemen, but they are few and far between. Most of the ones I refer to are either on 60 Minutes or some of the nightly newscasters like Brian Williams, Katie Couric, and Ann Curry. There are many others though I can't take seriously either due to the news they present, the way they are clearly there for their sexiness i.e. women wearing extremely snug blouses, or hosting another show that is utterly silly. The last newscaster I refer to is Julie Chen who is a co-anchor on The Early Show on CBS and also hosts the absolute train wreck reality show Big Brother. How can I be expected to focus on the news she is presenting when I know that later that night she is going to be asking inane barely clothed twenty somethings about their romantic liaisons. It just doesn't work for me.

The other problem I have with the news is that many times the teasers are longer than the stories that they tease. Also, many times the teases are misleading or just plain lies about the information to be provided so to keep the most people to hang on till the end of the news. There is also this abuse of the news by the entertainment division so that many times a major news story is what happened on one of that network's own shows.

In addition to these problems is the rush to be the first on stories. I hear so often news shows bragging about how they were the first to break a certain story. I would rather a station investigate a story and advertise that they got it right and were the most detailed then focus on speed.

Another concern is that the amount of news and the importance of the news varies every day, but the news almost always stays the same length. Unless there is an emergency like the heavy storms we just experienced or something as tragic as the Haiti earthquake then the local news stays at 35 minutes. It could also be longer if some idiot decides to run for the cops so we get to spend an hour or two watching a car weave around traffic. How about we run the news along the bottom of the screen unless there is a serious incident that needs more detail. During this time a television show which can be interrupted without too much of a problem or any at all can be playing. Now that most people have access to the internet specific news can be found by the individual.

I know this is a crazy thought. Actually get news that we need and not just what is sent out to us. Choose to enjoy programming that you enjoy and not sit through the crap that is local news. If I want to look at buxom women then I can watch HBO or Showtime or the E channel rather than see it from my local weather woman. Traffic reports can be found online and are more up to date. There is much more interesting program out there that I get to pick from. I know many people will say you can just turn it off which is true. However, there is some challenge with that. Some people including my girlfriend do not have cable. The only channels that come in are the digital cable channels. When the news is going there are very little alternatives. If the news was changed to how I propose there would be a lot more room on the air for interesting programming. I got news for you that would be an improvement over what is going on now.