Gottcha Journalism

The other day when a Malaysian commercial airline filled with civilian passengers was shot down in The Ukraine by either the warring Ukrainians or invading Russians, a prominent headline on the front page of my newspaper was, 'Jason Briggs Under Fire For Tweeting Malaysian Plane Joke'. I don't know who Jason Briggs is, I gather  he must be a celebrity in the pop culture, but Jason did nothing but simply twitter, " Anyone wanna buy my Malaysian Airlines frequent flier miles? In all seriousness, though- HOW DO YOU MISTAKENLY SHOOT DOWN A COMMERCIAL PLANE?! Ugh.'

That's it. Yet he was castigated and forced to issue the typical politically correct, and always insincere "apology" for being "insensitive". It's another symptom that we live in the Gottcha world of journalism, and that free speech, even in the form of a joke (not directed at the victims of the airline but at the cruelty of the warring parties for taking their war to civilians) is a mortal sin today. What offends me is the murderous acts of warring armies, not an entertainer doing what he is paid to do, that being to point to the absurdity of that war and all others.

This is the age of Gottcha journalism, where printing important news that citizens need to know is second to creating the latest celebrity scandal, particularly when there is actually nothing scandalous about the subject. So Jason is front page news for his tweet. Hmmmm Aren't we all better off for it and more informed about world events. Sigh. That newspaper was also filed with other gottcha celeb stories that day. Within the paper we also were told that: 'Charlie Sheen a Friendly Drunk at Taco Bell', 'Sexy Scandal star has another baby on the way', Kristen Wig joining the full frontal club', Sandra Bullock stalker case details are hair raising', 'Happy Birthday, Duchess Camilla. Not a Rottweillker after all', 'Candace Camerson Bure gets criticized for cleanse'.

That's all one day! No! I did not read the text of those "important" news stories. I already know they are designed to slander or embarrass someone. The world does seem to feel better about itself when it thrashes someone else it has elevated to celebrity status. But why can't newspapers print real news anymore? And this newspaper is not a scandal sheet. It's the mainstream 'U.S.A. Today' newspaper, the most widely read on in the United States. I do suspect the decline in intelligence of news sources reflects the decline in intelligence and culture of humanity. What do you think? Have a nice day! How is ever