If any of you have watched Fox News Channel for more than about 10 minutes, you will know that their motto is "We Report. You Decide." They also brag about "fair and balanced" news. Sure it might be balanced, and perhaps everyone except Bill O'reilly's guests will agree they are "fair", but they do an awful job at reporting daily news that is happening around the world. I'm not writing this to harp on Fox News. I have the same complaint with the other major news networks, including CNN.
The major news channels will pick up one story and run it for weeks. The same news. Sure, from different angles. From dozens of different reporters and analysts. When Anna Nicole Smith died, it was sad and unfortunate, yes. But when three weeks later I would turn on the TV and still be hearing about it, I was disgusted. Live feeds from the court room, from outside her Florida house, from anywhere that was remotely connected with her. Her life was not that important, no one's life is important enough to spend over two weeks of news on. I flipped from one network to the other, to find the same story being aired.
When any big scandal or tragedy happens in the US, the news networks are all over it. When a famous actor dies or prestigious pastor has an affair, you will not hear the end of it. How about the number of kids that become orphaned due to Aids, in the United States alone? That number was over 8,000 in the mid 90's. Did you hear many news articles about that? What about the 18,000 kids that die every day because of hunger and sickness? (CTV news) Every day, over 5 times the amount of people die than on 9/11. And every one of them a kid. And it happens every day. Where is Fox News and the army of reporters for that? Wars, genocides?
The sad answer? People feel bad when they hear about those stories. They don't know how to respond or how to relate. When there's a news scandal or a famous actor in trouble, they knew or know the person. It is more real, more like home to them. Any they get wrapped up in the hollywoodness of it all. TV ratings would go down if the news networks were showing graphic images from genocides and starved children corpses . Fox News and CNN have 24 hours each day to report news. It's too bad you can get more newsworthy information from 10 minutes of real research online.
The major news channels will pick up one story and run it for weeks. The same news. Sure, from different angles. From dozens of different reporters and analysts. When Anna Nicole Smith died, it was sad and unfortunate, yes. But when three weeks later I would turn on the TV and still be hearing about it, I was disgusted. Live feeds from the court room, from outside her Florida house, from anywhere that was remotely connected with her. Her life was not that important, no one's life is important enough to spend over two weeks of news on. I flipped from one network to the other, to find the same story being aired.
When any big scandal or tragedy happens in the US, the news networks are all over it. When a famous actor dies or prestigious pastor has an affair, you will not hear the end of it. How about the number of kids that become orphaned due to Aids, in the United States alone? That number was over 8,000 in the mid 90's. Did you hear many news articles about that? What about the 18,000 kids that die every day because of hunger and sickness? (CTV news) Every day, over 5 times the amount of people die than on 9/11. And every one of them a kid. And it happens every day. Where is Fox News and the army of reporters for that? Wars, genocides?
The sad answer? People feel bad when they hear about those stories. They don't know how to respond or how to relate. When there's a news scandal or a famous actor in trouble, they knew or know the person. It is more real, more like home to them. Any they get wrapped up in the hollywoodness of it all. TV ratings would go down if the news networks were showing graphic images from genocides and starved children corpses . Fox News and CNN have 24 hours each day to report news. It's too bad you can get more newsworthy information from 10 minutes of real research online.