Post by Darius on Nov 11, 2005 14:17:09 GMT -5
I was getting my mail from the lobby of my apartment building a couple of days ago and I overheard someone say, "It was on the news, so it must be true." I don't remember what story he was referring to. But two things occured to me. One was that I didn't know people actually spoke like that. And the other is that he was wrong.
I felt badly thinking that, though. I can't put my finger on why I feel the news lies to me, but I think they do. Perhaps what I should be saying is, "It was on the news, so it must be a slanted, subjective, one-sided view of the truth." And take the news with a large number of grains of salt.
Then, the next day, I was watching television and they brok in with a news story. A girl in Bend, Oregon (I live in Portland) had been staying with host family in Brazil and had gone missing a number of days ago. This was huge news in Oregon and, thankfully, she was found yesterday and is fine.
But the Breaking News was a statement from the missing girl's brother. Not a live statement. Not giving us more clues to here where-abouts. Not an update on the search in Brazil. A recorded statement saying how much he wished for her safe return and how great she is. Now, I don't mean to sound callous. I'm sure this was an incredibly trying time for the family. I'm just asking for some priorities. Is it really Breaking News that the missing girl is "non-judgemental"? Which is about all I took away from the report. Five minutes of the brother. I Don't even want to see sensationalized public grief like that during an actual news report - let alone a Breaking Report. It's one thing if the girl is missing in my neighborhood, but I'll bet anything this report wasn't televised in Brazil.
Then again, they did find her the next day, so maybe the fact that she is "non-judgemental" did break the case...
I felt badly thinking that, though. I can't put my finger on why I feel the news lies to me, but I think they do. Perhaps what I should be saying is, "It was on the news, so it must be a slanted, subjective, one-sided view of the truth." And take the news with a large number of grains of salt.
Then, the next day, I was watching television and they brok in with a news story. A girl in Bend, Oregon (I live in Portland) had been staying with host family in Brazil and had gone missing a number of days ago. This was huge news in Oregon and, thankfully, she was found yesterday and is fine.
But the Breaking News was a statement from the missing girl's brother. Not a live statement. Not giving us more clues to here where-abouts. Not an update on the search in Brazil. A recorded statement saying how much he wished for her safe return and how great she is. Now, I don't mean to sound callous. I'm sure this was an incredibly trying time for the family. I'm just asking for some priorities. Is it really Breaking News that the missing girl is "non-judgemental"? Which is about all I took away from the report. Five minutes of the brother. I Don't even want to see sensationalized public grief like that during an actual news report - let alone a Breaking Report. It's one thing if the girl is missing in my neighborhood, but I'll bet anything this report wasn't televised in Brazil.
Then again, they did find her the next day, so maybe the fact that she is "non-judgemental" did break the case...