Now and then, a really big news story comes along. 9-11 was such a story. The war in Iraq is a big story. The presidential election is something even I want to know everything about. When a ship starts breaking up in the Pacific, full of oil, that’s news.
But watching TV news, even though my wife and I sit together every night to watch, can somethimes be painful, given the lack of real news, and the fact that the news teams have to come up with a news program that lasts for 30 minutes or more. For example, when one of our local news anchors goes on about Brittney Spear’s new boyfriend, or that she and her boyfriend are splitting up, I just have to bury my face in my hands. Or when the weather guy or gal gets all pumped and effervescent about the notion that there ”may” be snow locally, and waxes on about it, just to titillate, even though it is most likely that no snow will appear, that sucks. Face it folks. There are ways in which news teams play with your mind, just to get you to watch. I have heard a local newsperson actually say...”A child rapist escapes and rapes again...will your child be next?’”.....even though the escaped rapist is somewhere in New England, and we are in the Northwest. GAWD don’t get me started.
My sweet wife Marie is a total news junkie, and I sometimes fear she might be put off with my “no news” rants. But even though she is stoic and calm about it, she will sometimes give me a look like, oh brother, and exclaim...”THAT is not news.”
My full length musical tome about this issue is a song titled “Worst Case Scenario News”. Now, people, I am not suggesting that there is not bad news out there, and news we need to know about, like actual diseases and terrorism. But the truth is, many news stories are just a bunch of non-stories, fashioned into “news” by TV news writers and anchors. It may drive me insane.
And does anyone besides me get the creeps from those twisting and turning graphics, played with dramatic music behind them, graphics like “Saddam’s Last Stand”, or “Operation Desert Storm”, or some other such enthrallingly named event?
Click here for a listen to “Worst Case Scenario News”.
But watching TV news, even though my wife and I sit together every night to watch, can somethimes be painful, given the lack of real news, and the fact that the news teams have to come up with a news program that lasts for 30 minutes or more. For example, when one of our local news anchors goes on about Brittney Spear’s new boyfriend, or that she and her boyfriend are splitting up, I just have to bury my face in my hands. Or when the weather guy or gal gets all pumped and effervescent about the notion that there ”may” be snow locally, and waxes on about it, just to titillate, even though it is most likely that no snow will appear, that sucks. Face it folks. There are ways in which news teams play with your mind, just to get you to watch. I have heard a local newsperson actually say...”A child rapist escapes and rapes again...will your child be next?’”.....even though the escaped rapist is somewhere in New England, and we are in the Northwest. GAWD don’t get me started.
My sweet wife Marie is a total news junkie, and I sometimes fear she might be put off with my “no news” rants. But even though she is stoic and calm about it, she will sometimes give me a look like, oh brother, and exclaim...”THAT is not news.”
My full length musical tome about this issue is a song titled “Worst Case Scenario News”. Now, people, I am not suggesting that there is not bad news out there, and news we need to know about, like actual diseases and terrorism. But the truth is, many news stories are just a bunch of non-stories, fashioned into “news” by TV news writers and anchors. It may drive me insane.
And does anyone besides me get the creeps from those twisting and turning graphics, played with dramatic music behind them, graphics like “Saddam’s Last Stand”, or “Operation Desert Storm”, or some other such enthrallingly named event?
Click here for a listen to “Worst Case Scenario News”.
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