I was thinking in the shower just now (oh no!) about how we as a people have a hard time keeping intensity on an issue going. And, I suppose partly it is due to the fact that with each new day comes a new news story. So much is always going on. It can keep your head spinning.
Just months ago we were glued to the horrible events happening in Ukraine. We saw videos of thousands of Ukrainians leaving their homes and we saw all the destruction done by Putin and his military – and it hurt to watch. But we all knew the campaign to save Ukraine was well worth it. It still is. The war is still going on. But it is no longer front page news or ‘top of the newshour’ headlines.
The horrors of the recent mass shootings were there for awhile. But, as with all the other mass shootings in America they have lost top billing too. Until the next big one.
The overturn of Roe vs. Wade is still simmering for sure. Too many people, mostly women, will not let the lack of accessibility to women’s reproduction healthcare become a quiet issue, a forgotten issue. No way. It’s’ too important. Protests continue around the country but they are not making news reports.
Intensity of news is usually hard and fast – and then gone. Most news and psuedo-news networks have lots of hours to fill and they can talk a subject to death. They stretch the time and the facts. They are ‘all over it’ and then it is gone.
On to the next thing. The next news item that will get people riled up. It becomes a cycle, and is about getting good ratings and keeping the ad money coming in. It’s business. It’s a game.
There has often been talk about having news reporting become separate from opinion TV. About no ads run and no concern for making money. Just reporting facts. NPR and PBS are the closest thing to it now but even they have to keep people interested and tuned in. They need money and have telethons each year. They appeal to a certain audience just like the other networks have their demographics to aim for for ratings.
There is no way we can have a government run news outlet. That would be blatant propaganda. We know of dictators in other countries who use media for that very purpose.
So, what to do? The reason I was thinking about this in the shower is that I saw on social media some pretty uninformed comments yesterday. A couple of times I easily found a reputable source and copied and pasted an article to help inform the persons making the comments. I believe that with a little work and with open eyes we can find out truth on the “World Wide Web” (now that’s a term you don’t hear very often anymore! ha) I also believe we can juggle more than one news item and we need to search out for the news sometimes. One lovely commenter told me to ‘get off my high horse’ for submitting information.
Now a days on the WWW (aka the internet) we can pull up videos of the January 6th hearings. We can watch under oath testimony and make up our own minds. We can go beyond what the one or two opinion networks tell us. The same people who commented yesterday said some things that I recognized as untrue rhetoric statements – it was similar to playing the children’s game of telephone. Just repeating the same thing and passing it on. After a few people continue to pass it on it may not be right, and it certainly doesn’t mean that it is true.
Most of you know that I was a ‘mass communications’ major in college and went on to have my first job in a radio news department. I then worked in other departments in radio stations, and at one small California TV station. I have always been a news junkie of sorts. I have always felt it is important to be aware of what is going on. Because, how can we get better, BE better, without knowing? (Yes, yes: ignorance is bliss – and I don’t deny that.) But we live in community and we live where everything is thrown at us with great intensity. Therefore we must separate fact from fiction. It’s getting really, really hard to do. There are many out there who don’t want us to know facts and purposely make news up. Why? To win. To cheat. To gain power. To be on top. They are experts at it too. They use too many adjectives (reporting should not include them.) Too much of the rolling of the eyes and other body language (reporting should not include that.) Ask yourself: who do you watch who does that??
Intensity is about ratings – and swaying people – and serving an agenda. It is not about telling the news. The best in the business do NOT use intensity. They do not get themselves riled up – to get YOU riled up. If they do they are not being truthful.
I have a pet peeve gripe and I hear it a lot on many news networks: The anchor saying “thank you so-and-so – that was great reporting!” Hello??! It’s their job and they should not be doing it for their own applause on camera. News people are avenues to tell what is happening. Again, if someone is telling a story to make themselves look good, then be aware.
I think the past ten years has shown me that it’s easy for people to be pulled along. To be gullible. It’s become a way of life for people in the media business – the ones that stretch news and opinionate. They get kicks from being the ‘expert,’ the one with the followers, the one who can say anything and people think it’s true. It makes me sad – but truly also really scares me. Those commenters yesterday had been pulled along, believing things not true, and ready to fight about it.
None of this was covered in my Mass Communications classes in the late 70’s at Towson State University. I wonder if it is now. It must be fascinating to sit in on lectures these days about what is going on in the news world now, and what the future might hold.
Marla’s Musings 