IS THAT NEWS?
I recently heard two "news" stories that made me realize just how far away from real news the "news" has gone.
1) I heard that FL Gov. Crist has a bet with someone on a sporting event. Ooooohhhh. That's huge "news". I couldn't have lived without that information. It really impacted my life. I was astonished, amazed and educated by that information. It was really worth the effort of the "news" organization who released that to make sure we knew all about it. Sigh... My life is full.
2) I recently heard that VP Elect (Pres. Reject), Joe Biden, is getting another doggie. Wow! Stop the presses! Alert the media (oh, they did), and get Queen Elizabeth on the phone so she won't hear it second hand.
Puhleeeeze! IF those two stories are newsworthy the fact that I got a job recently should have made international headlines. Kosovo should be in weeping celebration for me and Somalia should be dancing in the streets in my honor. I'm doing my part to help the US economy and my family's pocketbook. Wow. That should have been worth some kind of report. At least national if not international. Maybe at least a blurb in the local freebie (no he hates me). So here I am with my own little blog and I'm writing about how two "news" stories should have never been "news". Why? I'll tell you why.
I took journalism in school. The news, as I understood it back then, was considered things that impacted the majority of the people or their lives in some way. For instance, if America were to close its southern border with Mexico and just say, "Enough!" to the country that won't stop illegal immigration from its end (it encourages it, in fact), then Mexico declared war on America, that would be news.
If Canada declared that they were going to try to take America over via laws they enacted, that would be news.
If England decided that, because "Historian X" found a clause in the original papers signed by our Founding Fathers and yada yada yada, they were going to declare America as part of the British Empire again, that would be news.
(All of those instances would also be fighting words, but we'll consider that in another posting. Here we are focused on "news".)
News is what the US Senate, US Congress, and President are doing law-wise: what new laws they are enacting that will impact us, our taxes, our pocket books, our jobs, our futures, our children, our healthcare system, etc. That's what the news is supposed to be. An epidemic of smallpox breaking out in Chicago, that would be news, too. Then people planning on traveling to Chicago would know not to go there just yet. Waiting a while would be a good idea.
News is what your State Legislature is doing to you via bills and laws passed. News is what effects and impacts most of the people hearing it.
Now, don't get me wrong: I mean impacts as in has a real effect upon; not just an emotional effect upon. That means that the Caylee Anthony story, while tragic and sad and alarming and disgusting, is actually not "news".
Consider this: How many people were actually impacted by the actual loss of the poor little girl? I know her grandma and grandpa were; whether they supported their alleged-murdering daughter through the investigation or not, they are impacted by the loss. Caylee's relatives and friends are those impacted by her loss; not I, not you (unless you are included in that formerly mentioned category). You were only impacted emotionally.
Without having heard about it via the "news" you would never have heard about it. No one from Caylee Anthony's inner circle would have contacted you and said, "Are you sitting down? Have you heard that Caylee Anthony is dead?" Admit it; that would never have happened. But you know about her death anyways and you know that her mother has been charged with Caylee Anthony's murder. You know that because it made the "news." If it bleeds, it leads.
But does that mean that it is "news"? No. It means that there is another tragedy that the "news" media decided to tell us about to keep us ill-informed about other things; a distraction from the every day, important but unreported, real news. For instance, did you realize that during the Caylee Anthony big story that took the time away from other events, the FL State House passed (averaged for twelve months from 297 during the year; August, September, October and November) 99 bills into law? Did you know that some of those will impact your life directly? Not all, because some will be days of remembrance, or some sort of "Florida Smile for an Hour Day"-type thing. Those don't have an impact. But other laws passed into being within that time frame will impact you, your neighbor, your children, and your bank balance. That is news. Did you hear about that? No?
So why is the "news" media telling us about all these tragedies (car wrecks and house fires, school closings from winter storms, etc.), but not the real news? Why clutter our lives with the sadnesses that happen daily to other people, or sometimes to ourselves (I was impacted by a story that made the "news" even though it was not, IMHO, "news"), when — in the long run — it doesn't impact those around us, or most often, ourselves? Why do we need to know that the little old lady who lost control of her car on the Beachline (used to be Beeline) was on her way to her daughter's fiftieth birthday party and now will never be seen by her daughter again? Why is that news to me? Why should I know about someone's private loss? Why should that replace the important stuff that the "news" media should be telling us about?
My theory is that the "news" media does not want an informed public. If they have an informed public, then the public will not believe half of (if not more than half of) what the "news" media tells us. If "We, the People" know what our State and US legislators are doing, we will not be happy campers and we will not be able to be kept under their thumbs any longer. Knowing the truth enables us to fight back. Knowing the facts helps us to stay on top of the game and to contact the powers that be and say, "What do you think you're doing? We don't want that!"
Thanks to the "news" media, we don't hear about that stuff any more. We operate in blindness, complete darkness surrounds us regarding what the people in D.C. and Tallahassee are "doing for" us (more like doing to us). We have to sit back and trust them to do what is in our best interest without any way of knowing what it is they think is best. Did you like the "Fairness Doctrine"? If not, did you know it was coming before it was passed? Do you like the fact that the Florida House has passed a bill doing away with the requirement for Florida drivers to have Personal Injury Protection on their insurance coverage? No? Yes? Was it "news"? Or did I just inform you of something that the "news" media should have?
What is the "news"? Is it something that will make you cry, laugh, angry, or emote in some way or another? Or is the "news" the thing that will make a difference in the way you can do something, the way your grandkids will have to comply with the law, or the way you do business?
If I had my choice on what was "news" worthy, it would be the latter. I offer my condolences to the friends and family of Caylee Anthony and I wish that this tragedy had never happened. I know a little of what you feel. However, that does not mean that I think the whole nation needed to know about it, dwell on it for four months and have every jot and tittle of this twisted tragedy (referring to her mother's strange behavior) covered non-stop for the last four months. It was enough to have heard that the little girl was missing and that the mother was strange. We needn't have had Fox News's coverage all over the Nancy Grace Show, nor did we need to have Padilla on every talk show and network feed that would take him. It's a sadness I would not wish on any family, yes. But it is not "news"! The only impact it had on most of us was emotional. I do not wish to belabor the point, but emotions are not news!
Get off the Caylee Anthony story. Get off the story about the little ol' grandma who died on the Beachline, get off the other personal tragedies and the doggie stories for VP/Loser and a half, Joe "Pay your fair share" Biden! Tell us the things that will have an impact on our lives without trying to make us cry.
(Well, the Joe "Pay your fair share" Biden story did make me cry because I know our taxes will now go up, but I got a job to get us out of debt so we can pay those upcoming tax increases: Thanks, BHO supporters! I can't wait for the "news" that you're hurting now, too! Oh, wait. That won't happen unless someone bleeds.)
When I studied journalism, it was the five double-u's and the 'H': Who, What, When, Where, Why and How. Nowadays, it's can we make 'em cry, distract them, or did it bleed? That's more newsworthy than how much more in taxes our children will be paying thanks to the events within our legislative confines. Our children have no say in the matter, and we have to go to extraordinary lengths to find out what is happening because the "news" media is no longer the "news" media.
I had a friend who used to write romance novels. She had a formula written out on a white board on the back of her office door. It said something along the lines of:
"Introduction:" ___________________________ (Introduce the characters)
"Boy meets girl:" ______________________________ (tell how they meet)
"Boy and girl 'fall in love':" ____________________________ (sex scene: sometimes plural)
"Conflict:" ________________________________________ (they argue and break up)
"Reconciliation:" _____________________________________ (what happens to get them back together again)
"Ending:" _________________________________ (they lived happily ever after)
Today's "news" media has the same kind of white board, but theirs goes something like this:
"What hurt the most?": ______________________________ (what kind of injury, or crime)
"Who got hurt?": __________________________________ (some people have more pull than others: i.e.: children)
"When did it happen?": ______________________________ (when did this person get hurt?)
"Where did it happen?": ______________________________ (yep. Where did this person get hurt?)
"Why?": _________________________________________ (Why did this person get hurt?)
"How?": ____________________________________ (How long can we play this one up, stretch it out?)
"How much?": _______________________________ (How much blood was let for this story to make top billing?)
That's the "news". A white board full of tragedy, but the biggest tragedy of all is that "We, the People" are being sideswiped with the fake news and being distracted by the sadness of everyone else's heart aches, while the real news is not mentioned at all. Things that will effect us are being ignored while we are made to cry, to talk about and to "care" about someone else's loss. It's not that I don't care, but, as I said before, which of us would have been contacted by the inside circle and told the news personally? If you are not on that list, it is not "news" to you.
Too bad the "news" media makes you think it is.
1) I heard that FL Gov. Crist has a bet with someone on a sporting event. Ooooohhhh. That's huge "news". I couldn't have lived without that information. It really impacted my life. I was astonished, amazed and educated by that information. It was really worth the effort of the "news" organization who released that to make sure we knew all about it. Sigh... My life is full.
2) I recently heard that VP Elect (Pres. Reject), Joe Biden, is getting another doggie. Wow! Stop the presses! Alert the media (oh, they did), and get Queen Elizabeth on the phone so she won't hear it second hand.
Puhleeeeze! IF those two stories are newsworthy the fact that I got a job recently should have made international headlines. Kosovo should be in weeping celebration for me and Somalia should be dancing in the streets in my honor. I'm doing my part to help the US economy and my family's pocketbook. Wow. That should have been worth some kind of report. At least national if not international. Maybe at least a blurb in the local freebie (no he hates me). So here I am with my own little blog and I'm writing about how two "news" stories should have never been "news". Why? I'll tell you why.
I took journalism in school. The news, as I understood it back then, was considered things that impacted the majority of the people or their lives in some way. For instance, if America were to close its southern border with Mexico and just say, "Enough!" to the country that won't stop illegal immigration from its end (it encourages it, in fact), then Mexico declared war on America, that would be news.
If Canada declared that they were going to try to take America over via laws they enacted, that would be news.
If England decided that, because "Historian X" found a clause in the original papers signed by our Founding Fathers and yada yada yada, they were going to declare America as part of the British Empire again, that would be news.
(All of those instances would also be fighting words, but we'll consider that in another posting. Here we are focused on "news".)
News is what the US Senate, US Congress, and President are doing law-wise: what new laws they are enacting that will impact us, our taxes, our pocket books, our jobs, our futures, our children, our healthcare system, etc. That's what the news is supposed to be. An epidemic of smallpox breaking out in Chicago, that would be news, too. Then people planning on traveling to Chicago would know not to go there just yet. Waiting a while would be a good idea.
News is what your State Legislature is doing to you via bills and laws passed. News is what effects and impacts most of the people hearing it.
Now, don't get me wrong: I mean impacts as in has a real effect upon; not just an emotional effect upon. That means that the Caylee Anthony story, while tragic and sad and alarming and disgusting, is actually not "news".
Consider this: How many people were actually impacted by the actual loss of the poor little girl? I know her grandma and grandpa were; whether they supported their alleged-murdering daughter through the investigation or not, they are impacted by the loss. Caylee's relatives and friends are those impacted by her loss; not I, not you (unless you are included in that formerly mentioned category). You were only impacted emotionally.
Without having heard about it via the "news" you would never have heard about it. No one from Caylee Anthony's inner circle would have contacted you and said, "Are you sitting down? Have you heard that Caylee Anthony is dead?" Admit it; that would never have happened. But you know about her death anyways and you know that her mother has been charged with Caylee Anthony's murder. You know that because it made the "news." If it bleeds, it leads.
But does that mean that it is "news"? No. It means that there is another tragedy that the "news" media decided to tell us about to keep us ill-informed about other things; a distraction from the every day, important but unreported, real news. For instance, did you realize that during the Caylee Anthony big story that took the time away from other events, the FL State House passed (averaged for twelve months from 297 during the year; August, September, October and November) 99 bills into law? Did you know that some of those will impact your life directly? Not all, because some will be days of remembrance, or some sort of "Florida Smile for an Hour Day"-type thing. Those don't have an impact. But other laws passed into being within that time frame will impact you, your neighbor, your children, and your bank balance. That is news. Did you hear about that? No?
So why is the "news" media telling us about all these tragedies (car wrecks and house fires, school closings from winter storms, etc.), but not the real news? Why clutter our lives with the sadnesses that happen daily to other people, or sometimes to ourselves (I was impacted by a story that made the "news" even though it was not, IMHO, "news"), when — in the long run — it doesn't impact those around us, or most often, ourselves? Why do we need to know that the little old lady who lost control of her car on the Beachline (used to be Beeline) was on her way to her daughter's fiftieth birthday party and now will never be seen by her daughter again? Why is that news to me? Why should I know about someone's private loss? Why should that replace the important stuff that the "news" media should be telling us about?
My theory is that the "news" media does not want an informed public. If they have an informed public, then the public will not believe half of (if not more than half of) what the "news" media tells us. If "We, the People" know what our State and US legislators are doing, we will not be happy campers and we will not be able to be kept under their thumbs any longer. Knowing the truth enables us to fight back. Knowing the facts helps us to stay on top of the game and to contact the powers that be and say, "What do you think you're doing? We don't want that!"
Thanks to the "news" media, we don't hear about that stuff any more. We operate in blindness, complete darkness surrounds us regarding what the people in D.C. and Tallahassee are "doing for" us (more like doing to us). We have to sit back and trust them to do what is in our best interest without any way of knowing what it is they think is best. Did you like the "Fairness Doctrine"? If not, did you know it was coming before it was passed? Do you like the fact that the Florida House has passed a bill doing away with the requirement for Florida drivers to have Personal Injury Protection on their insurance coverage? No? Yes? Was it "news"? Or did I just inform you of something that the "news" media should have?
What is the "news"? Is it something that will make you cry, laugh, angry, or emote in some way or another? Or is the "news" the thing that will make a difference in the way you can do something, the way your grandkids will have to comply with the law, or the way you do business?
If I had my choice on what was "news" worthy, it would be the latter. I offer my condolences to the friends and family of Caylee Anthony and I wish that this tragedy had never happened. I know a little of what you feel. However, that does not mean that I think the whole nation needed to know about it, dwell on it for four months and have every jot and tittle of this twisted tragedy (referring to her mother's strange behavior) covered non-stop for the last four months. It was enough to have heard that the little girl was missing and that the mother was strange. We needn't have had Fox News's coverage all over the Nancy Grace Show, nor did we need to have Padilla on every talk show and network feed that would take him. It's a sadness I would not wish on any family, yes. But it is not "news"! The only impact it had on most of us was emotional. I do not wish to belabor the point, but emotions are not news!
Get off the Caylee Anthony story. Get off the story about the little ol' grandma who died on the Beachline, get off the other personal tragedies and the doggie stories for VP/Loser and a half, Joe "Pay your fair share" Biden! Tell us the things that will have an impact on our lives without trying to make us cry.
(Well, the Joe "Pay your fair share" Biden story did make me cry because I know our taxes will now go up, but I got a job to get us out of debt so we can pay those upcoming tax increases: Thanks, BHO supporters! I can't wait for the "news" that you're hurting now, too! Oh, wait. That won't happen unless someone bleeds.)
When I studied journalism, it was the five double-u's and the 'H': Who, What, When, Where, Why and How. Nowadays, it's can we make 'em cry, distract them, or did it bleed? That's more newsworthy than how much more in taxes our children will be paying thanks to the events within our legislative confines. Our children have no say in the matter, and we have to go to extraordinary lengths to find out what is happening because the "news" media is no longer the "news" media.
I had a friend who used to write romance novels. She had a formula written out on a white board on the back of her office door. It said something along the lines of:
"Introduction:" ___________________________ (Introduce the characters)
"Boy meets girl:" ______________________________ (tell how they meet)
"Boy and girl 'fall in love':" ____________________________ (sex scene: sometimes plural)
"Conflict:" ________________________________________ (they argue and break up)
"Reconciliation:" _____________________________________ (what happens to get them back together again)
"Ending:" _________________________________ (they lived happily ever after)
Today's "news" media has the same kind of white board, but theirs goes something like this:
"What hurt the most?": ______________________________ (what kind of injury, or crime)
"Who got hurt?": __________________________________ (some people have more pull than others: i.e.: children)
"When did it happen?": ______________________________ (when did this person get hurt?)
"Where did it happen?": ______________________________ (yep. Where did this person get hurt?)
"Why?": _________________________________________ (Why did this person get hurt?)
"How?": ____________________________________ (How long can we play this one up, stretch it out?)
"How much?": _______________________________ (How much blood was let for this story to make top billing?)
That's the "news". A white board full of tragedy, but the biggest tragedy of all is that "We, the People" are being sideswiped with the fake news and being distracted by the sadness of everyone else's heart aches, while the real news is not mentioned at all. Things that will effect us are being ignored while we are made to cry, to talk about and to "care" about someone else's loss. It's not that I don't care, but, as I said before, which of us would have been contacted by the inside circle and told the news personally? If you are not on that list, it is not "news" to you.
Too bad the "news" media makes you think it is.
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