You know it’s funny, when I was a kid I hated to watch the morning shows because they were too newsy. Today I don’t watch them because they are garbage. All news has been confined to the first hour, the early 7am run, and that hour seems to get smaller and smaller with each passing day. Today I awoke to the first hour of Good Morning America with little expectations, and was disappointed still. They spent almost 12 minutes on the shooting in Cleveland (a far cry from the coverage given to similar tragedies in whiter schools) and less than 30 seconds on an insurgent attack on a U.S. base. Then they moved on to lighter fare. Did you know that a story like David Hasselhoff’s alcoholic relapse can make national network news these days? I mean as if Britney Spear’s custody battle was useless enough, now we have more information being piped into our brains with the nutritional value of a Twinkie.
Slow news day? Hmmm, let’s check:
Aside from the barely mentioned attack on a U.S. base in Iraq and the shooting at a Cleveland school, National Gaurdsmen returning from Iraq were denied education under the GI bill for serving one day less than the requirement, no that’s not news. Union negotiations with American auto manufacturers is revealing a major decline of both, nah that’s too depressing. Major pharmaceutical company pulls children’s cold medicine from the shelves, hey, who the hell do you think pays for half the ads on Good Morning America? El Salvador is using its “Patriot Act†clone to jail Leftists, no that’s not about America and reflects badly on the U.S.. Nobel Prizes being handed out? Well to be fair, Good Morning America spent a few minutes talking about whether or not Al Gore will win and if he’ll run for President, about the same amount of coverage given to Britney’s child custody hearing.
They’re just giving the people what they want right? What ever happened to giving people what they need? Sure we all want to watch the accident on the freeway, but must we forget that all we’re doing is making more traffic?
Does America prefer garbage tabloid news to the actual truth? Undoubtedly yes. Just imagine having a friend who always told you the truth about how you looked each day. The reason why you have to imagine such friends exist is because no one would want a friend like that. Besides, they wouldn’t survive a bad hair day. The truth sucks, no way around that one, do we need to hear it every day? Not really. Do we need to hear it all? Absolutely!
Truth in our society at large, however, can be dangerous. If the people really knew what was going on, they may not be so compliant to let their sons and daughters go off to war, or get up each morning and submit to the control they are forced to bare. The whole damn thing could fall apart if Americans knew where their groceries came from, where their children’s toys came from, what their tax money is being spent on.
Thankfully, we have the internet now, since broadcast news has become nothing more than another TV show.