Come on

A year back it was Anna Nicole Smith. All leading news channels couldn’t stop talking about her death, her baby and everything else that surrounded her. Never mind that there was a war going on, an impending housing crisis and oil was at all time highs. Just when that was dieing down and you figured that the channels will focus back on the issues at hand, there came along Britney Spears and her little escapades. Not to mention the other minor distractions such as Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, The DC madam, the airport restroom rendezvous and everything else that kept us at the edge of our seats.

It’s almost as if the channels have decided that I am incapable of digesting real news in a decent fashion. Everything has to have drama and intrigue built into it. There has to be a sense of celebration and victory, anguish and defeat. Nothing in between seems to matter anymore. Is it that people can’t consume news in a normal fashion? Does listening to news have to be like reading a novel? Naming the ongoing primaries “Ballot Bowl 08” seems to almost insult my intelligence.

But it all came to a boiling point when CNBC spent two hours yesterday discussing the gory details of Spitzer’s rendezvous with the New York hooker. This is a business channel that is designed to appeal to the business community looking for investing information. Apart from the obvious joy of watching the sheriff of Wall Street falling in such a spectacular fashion, the viewers have little interest in watching the Governor making his way through midtown traffic, on his way to his office to tender his resignation while the anchor and his guests shamelessly dwell over inconsequential details of his life thus far while the financial markets are roiled in a credit crunch, a swelling inflation, a drowning housing market and a plummeting dollar.

Really people! Not only are you insulting my intelligence now, but you are also wasting my time.

Comments

Anonymous said…
with so many news channels and entertainment alternatives to complete with, the only way a news channel can get an average viewer's attention (and keep it) is through sensationalized news.
Even newspapers have started to give in by adding spicy news to keep up with the fast selling gossip mongers.

until the readership of more serious newspapers and the viewership of more serious programs (such a public television )increases, what we are getting now is probably what the majority of public want to see
11:51 AM
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