Over 3000 Americans dead, tens of thousands wounded, and untold numbers of Iraqi lives ruined. No health care for millions of Americans. Borders unsecured; just waiting to be exploited by the next gang of 19 hijackers. And when we turn on the television, pick up the newspaper, or visit an online news site, what are we more likely to see? Paris Hilton, Anna Nicole's Baby's Daddy, and tragic stories of young white women being murdered by their estranged husbands or boyfriends.
When the news media dares to cover the important, though admittedly less “entertaining” stories, they do it with theme music, fancy graphics, and opinions from political has beens with agendas to pursue. We all know, nothing makes a car bombing more interesting than dramatic music. For shame! The producers at these media outlets should spend less time finding theme music for the tragedy of the week and more time arranging substantive analysis and debate by professionals with no political or personal agenda.
Aaron Sorkin once wrote a line for Michael Douglas in the movie “The American President” that often sticks with me. "These are serious times, and we need serious answers from serious people." Unfortunately there are no serious people to be found on my television. They've all gone home; disgusted that intellectualism and thoughts not expressed in 30 second sound bites are shunned by everyone but the obscure Sunday morning talk show.
The serious discussions that should be taking place in this country are replaced by shows claiming to present us “news and opinion”. Though it's a lot little less news, and a lot more opinion. From the hours of 5PM eastern and 10PM eastern, on the 3 majors cable news networks, there are no less than 7 hours hours worth of editorial programming. In other words, agenda based talk heads shouting their version of the facts at each other for 7 full hours. I suspect viewers of these television shows do not come away any more knowledgeable, just more bitter and divisive.
It is often said that we have no political choice when it comes to electing people to high office. It is usually a choice between shooting yourself in the left foot or the right foot. Not much of a choice, really. Though our electoral system is to blame for much of the 'lesser of two evils' scenario, the media is also to blame.
We currently have approximately 16 candidates officially vying for either the Democratic or Republican nomination for President. Though I bet even the more aware news viewer would struggle to name just 5 candidates. Why is that? Who is the media to decide which candidates are viable and which are not? A worthy man like Congressman Ron Paul's name only gets mentioned when they're ridiculing him for not towing the party line, or when he happens to have more money than John McCain. Though the insufferable "pundits" do not offer Ron Paul praise for such a strong fund raising effort. They simply note how badly John McCain must be doing, because he has only as much money as Ron Paul. Just where do they get the nerve?
It would be grossly unfair to paint all members of the media with the same brush. There are still amazing sources of news available to us, even on television. Frontline, Nightline, and even a few select shows on cable news channels have the courage to do in-depth coverage on a single important story, sometimes for many days, weeks in a row. This type of reporting may not be the best in terms of making General Electric, Time Warner, and News Corp the billions of dollars of revenue they've come to expect, but it is invaluable to the viewers/readers who are fortunate enough to catch such programming.
The blame rests with us. Well, mostly you. We cannot help but watch. It is the same instinct that causes us to slow down when passing a car accident. We want to know about Paris Hilton's cavity searches...well sorta. And who doesn't enjoy gossiping around the water cooler when it comes to the latest 'who done it' crime drama. Not to mention, it's a nice escape from the reality that is life. But the facts are clear, until we reject such trash and leave it on TMZ.com where it belongs, the market will always provide the utter crap we seem to crave.
