For those of you who don't know me, or
don't know me very well, I lost friends and co-workers in the
accident in Buffalo, NY in 2009. Until that event, I typically
watched the news, as I felt it was almost somewhat necessary in order
to know what was going on in the world. I still feel it's somewhat
necessary to know what's going on in the world, mind you, but
watching TV news is about the worst possible way to do it.
Why did that accident change my mind?
Because it highlighted with little question what the news was, and
still is: Entertainment. They are private companies, motivated by
profit, who make their income off of advertising. What do advertisers
want? Viewers. What to viewers want? To be interested, entertained,
stimulated. They don't necessarily want to be educated. So, the news
is actually quite effective at doing what it intends to do. The
problem is that their intention is not to educate or inform. They
claim it is, as it's part of their image. But that's not what people
want. Look no further than the viewer numbers on PBS, the NASA
channel, or any other dead or dying education network (we miss you,
History Channel. Please come back to your original self. Pawn Stars
is not history.) You'll see that truly educational, objective,
rational TV dies. It's just not exciting enough
to hold the viewers' short attention spans.
How did that accident highlight this?
Ask anyone who had a story on the news about themselves, something
they did, or something they know a lot about, and you'll get the same
answer. The news is a master of skimming the exciting, controversial,
sensational bits off of reality, and ignoring the rest. To add to
that, they are absolutely obsessed with being the first among
their competitors to do this. They brag about this in their
commercials. They spew misinformation, lies, hearsay, and other
worthless babble out as quickly as they possibly can, just to beat
their competitors to it. So that they can stake some claim as the
most effective news gatherers out there, because while their slow
poke competitors were tripping over themselves trying to find their
keys, they were professionals. On top of it. The first on
the scene. It doesn't really matter what they are saying, so long as
they say it first.
They
are more obsessed with being fast than being right. Why? Because
people tire quickly of a story. By the time the full details are out,
it could be months later. It could even be years later. Any thorough
investigation takes time. The more complex the issue, the longer it's
going to take to sort it out. By the time the truth, or even the
whole story is out, public attention has shifted to some other hot
topic, and everyone clamors over each other to be the first
ones on that scene. The mess the news left at that other scene is
left to rot. It may not ever be mentioned again unless necessary to
save their reputation. Only when someone publicly points out the fact
that they spewed misinformation, lies, or exaggerations will they
retract, correct, or apologize for it. If no one calls them on it,
off they go.
I
don't blame the news for this. They are just giving people what they
want. The problem is that the people have generally forgotten how to
research things for themselves. It's just so much easier to listen to
some talking head on TV tell you what's going on than it is to look
it up, research it from all angles, and decide for yourself. Plus, if
you actually do take the time to research it, you'll typically find
that you don't really care that much about that thing anyway, and
stop researching. And this brings me to my next point:
You don't need to know most of this
shit. Why does a kidnapping five
states away need to be your problem? Sure, I could see the media
spreading something like “look out for this kid, last seen with
this guy, in this car,” in the hopes of getting the kid back home.
But if they did that objectively, they'd have to spend a great deal
of time covering every kidnapped child out there, or at least in
whatever geographical area they have decided to care about. That's a
lot more time than they want to spend on it, and that's a lot more
missing people notices than viewers want to watch. So what do they
do? They report only what the hot story is, as they have to keep up
with their competitors. And, we're back to the core issue of what
news really is.
Watch
the news, even the local news, and give it this test: What, out of
all these stories, do I actually need
to know? Someone got shot across town? Nope. A teacher at some school
your kids don't go to got caught selling drugs? Nope. Take it to the
national level, and it gets even less important and relevant to your
daily life. If it was important or relevant, I'm betting that you
would hear about it through a channel other than the news.
The
accident in Buffalo spurred a national media discussion about pilots,
airlines, training, regulations, blah blah blah. All things with
which I am intimately familiar. The watered down, misinformed talking
heads on the news seemed like they couldn't even accidentally
get anything right, at least not completely. It might be partly
right. It might be exaggerated. Most importantly, they completely
ignored parts of the story that weren't interesting. As any good
entertainer should. If it's not interesting, cut it. By the time the
accident investigation was done (over a year later), the issue had
fizzled, and received little more than a passing mention on the news.
Just when the truth was out there to be reported, they didn't care to
report it any more. It wasn't the hot item it was a year before.
They're on to other things. It opened my eyes. If they are so wrong
and/or incomplete about this, why should I think they are right and
complete about anything else? I shouldn't. And I haven't since.
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