I avoid watching TV news. It is rarely fully informative
because it has time limits on each story and sound bite. And the bites alone
don’t convey a lot of data, just images and feelings.
What passes as news these days covers these topics (a mere
30 second scan of titles on the internet):
- Suspect killed in shootout
- Police kill unarmed teenager
- Police chase ends badly; pedestrian killed, 4 cars demolished; 4 people hospitalized; drunk driver unscathed
- Top photos of the week
- Celebs on the beach and around town
- Fascinating factoids about one celeb’ family
- Tips on improving your life
- Movies arriving on the big screen
- Oddities caught on video to entertain you
- Sports, sports and even more sports!
- Results of the national Spelling Bee
- History of Memorial day in photos: Indy 500 race; museums near the Indy 500
- Cooking tips to make boiled eggs easy to peel
- Electronic sales galore over the long Memorial Day Weekend
- Automobile news; new models; yet more fascinating facts about…
- Fashion do’s and don’t’s for every body shape, or is that body shame?
- Nutritious meals for the weekend that won’t cost you $100 for the family
- Divorce news of celebs, their opinions, their hurt feelings, their finances…
- Campaign news that’s sure to rile you: More Trumpisms and Bernie-isms
- Amazing make-up treatments for movie stars in new roles
- Global war news catch-up
- Financial news attempting to forecast the impossible amounting to more nonsense
- And so much more!
The media is in the midst of its own war for ratings. So
many news outlets, so many tidbits to wave in front of consumers and newsies!
Each scores a rating hit that translates into advertising rate increases. And
that’s what funds the station. So this enticement of nonsense continues.
Here’s what I think we should be hearing from our news
stations. After all, they are replacing print journalism as the primary source
of news. so let’s hear some facts behind all the headlines.
- What’s happening in Illinois Legislature; or more accurately, what’s not happening there. We are without a budget for nearly a year and the Governor and Republicans are claiming that this means no funds without emergency values pertaining to them should be disbursed. Nonsense. The inaction is pure politics. The governor is making a power grab and his buddies in his party in the legislature are abetting his game plan. So:
- Social programs are going unfunded; people in need are going without food, medical attention, rent subsidies, physical assistance to move their bodies, etc.
- Education
programs go underfunded. People with means go out of state like the poor
states of the South. Imagine that!
- Schools that can help people of all ages succeed and prosper and lead the state to much higher economic development shirk their duties to these people. This harms all of us for years to come. There is no ‘catching up’ with dereliction of duty.
- Find out who is doing the positive programming during this time of stress; which party is actually performing for its people? Which party is not? And how much is this all costing the state for accomplishing very little?
- What is the international work being done behind the curtains and doors where allies work to offset the threats from enemies? Why is so much done when cooperation among all parties on the globe could accomplish so much more.
- What
is
- What
is
- Both
of those questions are utter rubbish and they know it. The
- Who are the supporters of Trump? What are their age and income demographics? Are they involved in local issues and programs that build strong communities; or are they uninvolved in the main and are complaining because they can but don’t realize the threat Trump represents?
- Same question about Bernie’s supporters? Do they understand policy and governance? Do they understand how things get done? Are they really as disaffected as they claim or are they spoilers who really don’t like Hillary?
- And what is it that people claim they don’t like about Hillary? How is she different from Bernie or Trump? Are the accusations and opinions based on fact or chimera?
- What is our energy health currently? Where future stores of energy coming from and what are is their relative cost in money and damage to the ecosystem?
- Where are the jobs on the globe? Who controls them? Who pays them? Why are they moving all over the globe away from old areas to new? What can we do about that if anything?
- Should we be retooling our people for new jobs and economic activity that will challenge the world economy with high level competitive goods and services? If we should why haven’t we started this movement? Or have we?
So many questions. So much to learn. The media is our
resource for this information, and our schools, too. But where is the media in
this miasma of detail? Foaming at the mouth with juice tidbits of celebrity
lives and the latest comments from Trump?
They know better. They should perform better. Until they do
I refuse to watch. I’ll just find my facts and figures elsewhere. So many
resources. So many educated people. So many things to research.
Let’s get at it!
June 1, 2016
No comments:
Post a Comment