TV News

I have been watching TV news lately. It can be a painful thing to do, not because of the content. The world has always had troubles, and I doubt they are any worse today than in the past. But if one watches a local or national TV new broadcast in the U.S. these days he or she would think the sky is falling. Content now is mostly entertainment rather than news, what news is presented is more rumor than confirmed event and the presentation of it is more often given by pretty boy or pretty girl reporters unqualified and untrained in journalism. TV news has sunk to the same low level as most other TV programming, and I wonder if it is a sign that serious TV news may die altogether.

There are many things that annoy me about TV news. Here are a few that you may see on your own set too.

* those TV news anchors who thank each other ("Thanks for your report, Tom"...he says to his field team reporter. Why does he thanks the reporter every time he does his job?), use bad grammar and usage when giving news, report rumors ("an undisclosed source has told us"....I say, if the source can not be disclosed don't use it.).

* over-reports on crime stories and issues that attempt to frighten the viewer (viewers like to see train wrecks, particularly if they imagine the train is headed toward them).

* gives simplistic analysis of their news in order to make the viewer feel comfortable rather than challenging the viewer with straight reporting that forces the viewer to think fro him or her self, seeks to first entertain and secondly to report on issues that actually affect the lives of the viewers.

* slants or twists the facts of the news reported to a particular point of view- conservative, liberal, ethnic, religious, nationalistic etc.

* promotes an agenda or the stations on programming by creating a "news story" that attempts to advertise it (a local Portland TV station that is the one that runs a silly reality show called 'American idol' wastes large segments of time on it's hour newscasts promoting that show with the implication that it is "news").

* presents opinions as news (because most of the viewers don't think enough to distinguish between the two).

* rushes to broadcast a story before verifying it or pondering the value of reporting it (remember all the revisions that were made on the Osama bin Laden killing story?)
Just as newspapers are in decline, so is news on TV and, I think, TV itself in general is moving toward an appeal to the least educated viewer. Perhaps TV news is the bird in the mine, the detector that the medium of TV is losing appeal and impact.

More people are turning off their TV sets and using other mediums as sources of information and entertainment. if you don't believe me, just turn on the TV news to see for yourself....