Americans, Society, and the Media...

[FreakyWxChick]

I was up all night due to an awesome storm. We didn't have power restored until this morning, and for the first time in awhile I watched the morning news. I am not a newspaper reader, and while I will watch the local news for the weather....I rarely pay attention to the other stuff. I read CNN or MSNBC online and can get a basic idea of what is going on.

Anyhow, my point. This morning for over an hour of flipping channels between the Today show, GMA etc all I heard about was Kobe Bryant. Over and over I would flip to another station just to hear the same thing. I could care less about the whole incident.

Our media today has sensationalized the comings, goings, and wrong-doings of celebrities to the point where I want to puke. A few days ago in Minnesota, a very sick woman threw her 11 month old sons over a bridge and then jumped off herself to perform a murder/suicide act. Personally my heart went out to the little boys and the mother herself because it is obvious she is very ill. I saw a tiny snippet of news regarding this. I have wondered if the one surviving baby will be ok. I have wondered if the mother will receive psychiatic counseling etc. When Susan Smith drowned her children by driving her car into a river, America was enraged. When Andrea Yates in Texas killed her 5 children, America wept.

We have yet another genocidal mother and those around her who desperately need prayers, yet it is "old" news and put off to the side.

Headlines on CNN are as follows:
Britney spears acknowledges she's not a virgin.
Simon Cowell signs for 3 more years on American Idol.
Shootings in Meridian Mississippi.
Kobe Bryant.
The conjoined twins.
etc etc

I know I am exaggerating this to a point, but I have a very hard time accepting the media flip flopping around and determining what WE see as newsworthy.

Rant over, stick a fork in me. I'm done.

[Lake Effect1]

Wx Chic:You are absolutly right!!! the media throws all this so called news worthy items at us everyday..I saw that women who was beating her daughter in Kohls parking lot every 5 min. Now does anyone even know or care what's going on with that little girl? kobe Bryant hasn"t even been charged yet and probably never will be, but I AM THANKFUL the truth about Brittany has come out, I will sleep a whole lot better!!!

[ColdFront77]

I like to know what is going around in local area, nationally and internationally.

If there is no other news to report, the news cycle will be short and the same issue is going to be repeated over and over again. What else can the media talk about, otherwise?

[GalvestonDuck]

I fear saying much about the situation.

I was watching the Today Show one certain morning and Katie Couric mentioned their upcoming story about Michael Jordan coming out of retirement again. I thought to myself, "Must be a slow news day." Turned off the TV and headed to an appointment and then to work. It was September 11, 2001.

I prefer to read news online also because I can choose what I read. But if the big news story is that Britney Spears didn't wait til she was married...well, I'll take that over an attack on freedom anyday.

~Duck

[coriolis]

Sex sells soap

[streetsoldier]

From an old newspaper writer...

"Good news isn't 'news'; bad news IS 'news', and the worst possible news gets you a headline".