This really pissed me off. As Jon Stewart pointed out, the mainstream media isn’t interested in news, they are only interested in sensation and scandal. Want proof?
Nancy Pelosi calls a press conference to talk about jobs and the economy, but it coincidentally gets scheduled the day that Anthony Weiner is going to announce his resignation. The major networks jump on it with breathless excitement, assuming that Pelosi (who had previously called for Weiner to resign) will change the subject to talk about the scandal. When Pelosi announces that she won’t be talking about Weiner, they immediately and shamelessly cut away. Watch it:
Survey after survey shows that the biggest issues that the voters care about are the economy and jobs, and yet the mainstream media doesn’t want you to hear what Pelosi has to say about that. All they want you to hear about the Democrats are two words: “sex” and “scandal”. This isn’t news, it’s gossip.
3 Comments
One thing that The Daily Show has been very consistent with for several years is their scorn and condemnation of major news outlets – especially television/cable – to cover what John Stewart and I call “real news.” We as a country have gone gaga over reality tv with its contrived plots and conflicts (there’s even mild conflict on such mundane shows as House Hunters, fgs!!!). The news media has seemed to be filling a need to keep up with the fictionalized reality their entertainment branches pump out. For some reason, it is what the news media has determined is necessary to keep the Nielson box turning over. The media continues to pander to this voyeuristic need to get the latest gossip.
I left mainstream media behind quite some time ago except when there is truly important, breaking news and they are trying to cover it. I must say, though, that when things got hot in the middle east this spring, I spent most of my time on Al Jazeera and BBC.
I seriously fret about the lack of knowledge on the part of so many of our citizens. The failure of mass news media to provide a quality product makes Uncle Walter role over in his grave.
Of course, I espouse leaving the TV turned off. Two US sources that give unbiased news are http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/fronts/RAW?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME (although it has been pointed out that the story changes during the day)and http://www.csmonitor.com/
News stations switch that crap like weiner because thats what gets ratings…why? Tt’s drama…and the american public craves high school drama.