Biggest problem with ‘the media’ is not bias — it’s laziness
We live in a “sound-bite” world, so when the media give us sound bites for our daily information diet, we shouldn’t be shocked or surprised. Nor should we accuse “the media” of having a liberal or conservative bias.
Trust me as someone who worked in the media before it started sliding so radically downhill: The media aren’t all that biased, they’re mostly just lazy and incompetent. There are, truly, no “investigative journalists” worthy of the name anymore, in my opinion. Not even the renowned, historical investigative duo Woodward and Bernstein are REALLY Woodward and Bernstein anymore. (In their case the problem is mostly aging, not loss of ability or changes in style. They’re getting old, and someone who’s 60+ finds it hard to get excited and do the physical labor of someone who’s 30-40 years old. I speak from experience on this, people.)
Today’s “journalists” are mostly broadcast “talking heads” who live and die by ratings and teleprompters. The few who might have a clue about investigative, serious journalism generally lose out to budgetary constraints by their employers (large print operations or television networks) — or they are forced to simplify and limit their “coverage” of an issue, event, or person by the declining attention span of their audiences.
When you take all that sorry mess and call it “the media,” then add in such obvious self-serving dopes as the Fox Network bunch, Rush Limbaugh, Matt Drudge, and all the other self-anointed “journalists” who really aren’t as competent as many amateur bloggers — well, now you really do have the essence of that marvel we call “the media.” And what you have suffers more from clueless incompetence than from political bias.
Forgive my cynicism today, but that’s the way I see it. Tell me how you see it.
[tags]the media, media mistakes, media incompetence, lack of journalistic competence, take time for living[/tags]
How do you take your ‘news’? It’s CNN or ‘The Daily Show’ for me
If you’re like me, and many people are, you’ve heard absolutely a million times more than you really need to hear about Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton — or Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama, if that matters to you.
I turned on a rerun of “The Daily Show” awhile ago and host Jon Stewart voiced exactly the same thing — he said they were not going to do the routine nightly coverage of the Democratic presidential race because he and everyone else was sick to death of it.
Stewart’s parody program was also the one to point out how absolutely absurd it was in the candidates’ televised “debate” last week that the two media bozos hosting it took until question 16 — over one hour into the debate — before either candidate was actually asked something about the issues! Everything until then dealt with personality and “gossip”-type buzz questions.
I realize, of course, that Stewart’s program is NOT “news,” but really is “entertainment.” But in my book, Stewart’s often cutting edge “comedy” is more reality than you’ll find on most of the networks — including the one news network I watch the most, CNN.
CNN gets my vote, if I were forced to pick one, as the “best” of the legit “news” networks. They have some relatively sharp people and do their best to pay attention. They generally get it right, with less hype and fluff than most broadcast news.
What’s your pleasure? Do you watch any particular news networks or news programs more than others? Do you ever watch “The Daily Show,” and if so, how do you feel about it? Tell us.
[tags]The Daily Show, parody, news, media, networks, take time for living[/tags]
Which is worse — television commercials or political campaigns?
I have to confess that television commercials and political campaigns are combining to really wear me down. I totally understand people who shut off their TVs and abandon them forever.
I was watching (ha, not ME though?) one of the late-night network talk shows last night and saw part of an interview with the actress Helen Hunt. The part I saw was her explaining that her daughter (four or five years old, I don’t recall) is not allowed to watch television. Never. As a result, the girl is very much out of touch with kids’ entertainment. Ms. Hunt mentioned, for example, that she and her daughter were doing something and saw a guy in an “Elmo” costume doing something with kids. The daughter was dumbfounded at the character, had no idea whatsoever who or what an “Elmo” was.
Okay, I think that’s probably a little extreme. But after I’ve seen the 3 millionth political commercial and/or sound bite, and after I’ve futilely hit the mute button and switched channels with the remote 3 million times in a row to avoid the absolutely repulsive, disgusting commercials put out by Hardees — my all-time personal prize winner as the company with the most disgusting commercials and where I’ll NEVER eat — I grow weary.
Am I the only one who can’t figure out why fast-food commercials must be either, 1) completely dumb ignorant, 2) laced with sex, 3) show closeup shots of food slopping down onto a counter or drooling down a smack, smack, smack, grease smeared chine, or, 4) all of the above??
Ah, thanks for the chance to rant and vent. I feel a little better now.
[tags]television commercials, politics, entertainment, take time for living[/tags]
‘Real Subliminal’ products
