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Masters Of The Obvious
I'm still pissed off about something that happened Sunday, but I can't bring myself to blog about it yet. So intead I'll blow off some steam about this.
My pal Maine was waxing philosophical about TV reporters and the places that they find themselves. Right now they're out there standing on the beach as hurricane Dennis pounds Louisiana telling us how bad the weather is. In a snowstorm there's always someone outside letting us know how cold it is. After a tragedy (fire, murder, car wreck, etc.) they stick a microphone in a family members face and ask "how do you feel right now?"
I never feel sorry for TV reporters. They're all masters of the obvious. Recently there was a huge manhunt going on for a guy who killed a cop. The guy walked up to the car, shot the cop through the window, then dragged the cop out of the car in to the street and put a few more bullets into him. Here was one TV reporter's thoughtful and informative question for the chief of police: "Would you consider this person to be armed and dangerous?"
Gee Sparky, let me think about it and get back to you.
I've said this before but it bears repeating. Someone who majored in Journalism in college was simply not smart enough, or was too lazy to be an English major. A Broadcast Journalism major is someone too stupid to be a Journalism major. Or a Republican. Often both.
As one who has been directly involved with numerous news story I can safely say that I've yet to see a report in the newspaper that has more than %50 of the facts right. I dislike talking to reporters for this very reason. All to often they're not looking for the facts, they're looking for the 'story'. Nothing can fuck up a great story like facts.
One of our society's biggest problem is that the schools keep on pumping out Lawyers and Journalists when we already have too many of both. So they all have to try and invent work. This is why Leeza Gibbons is a well known name and why McDonald's gets sued for their coffee being too hot.
Anyone calling themselves a 'journalist' is probably a pretentious asshole. Like lawyers, they like to pretend that they're an important part of our society, but quite frankly I get more accurate information from my lunatic neighbor up the street. There's no 'liberal' bias out there. Just stupidity. As Napoleon once said, "Never ascribe malice to that which is just as easily explained by incompetence."
The really scary part of all this is that no one seems to notice this. The average viewer is dumber than the TV reporter. Larry, Darryl and Darryl are perfectly content to sit in front of the TV and watch the idiot reporter on the beach, and they will tune in at 10 to see the exlusive footage of the 18 car pile-up. They're the ones foaming at the mouth to see the body being brought out of the house, or the sobbing mother after they tell her that her three year old is dead.
And their vote counts just as much as yours
~Easy
I always hate it when reporters do that. Ask the most inane questions
possible to people that are very likely in shock.
I can hardly bear to watch the local news anymore. If not for the reasons
you have described,there are also those who mix flowery prose into what
should be a straightforward reporting of the NEWS. Who's in charge of
these idiots and why do I have to suffer their inanities? Makes me read
the paper.
Very wise. I could not have said it better.
Ok, I have to put in my two cents here. I'm planning on majoring in
journalism in college, so I can't agree with the fact that you say anyone
who does that is just too dumb to be an english major. Then again, I don't
want to be that kind of dumbass journalist. I want to be a music critic,
but still, I have to somewhat stick up for my future colleagues. Underneath
all of that,however, I do agree that most reporters out there are dumb and
should be shot.
Journalism has gotten so corrupt that I actually now automatically
disbelieve anything I hear on the news. They could say, "water is wet" and
I'd think, "Wait a minute... is water really wet? Maybe it's just slightly
damp. What are these people up to?"
I still feel bad for the reporters' cameramen. They have to travel to the
heart of the storm, just like the reporters do. That job has got to suck.
And what about the 24 hour stations? They just take a story and beat it to
death. My husband sometimes gets hypnotized and just sits there watching
the news. It's depressing. And now that the storm has passed we're not
hearing about life without water or electricity or your picture window...
So true.
Easy, I just finished Ari Fleischer's latest pulp, Taking Heat.
You may cringe at the policy, but he does a real nice job of defining the
modern-day press, and their intents.