Why I stopped watching the news

Now I realize that I all but just finished writing, but as I was composing an e-mail I remembered my rant for the day. The news media.

I was a confirmed Headline News junkie for over a year watching it religiously every morning over breakfast and then when I returned home. Recently I quit cold turkey. The "news" was not particularly relevant or well reported. All the little news bits were obviously written to get people's attention not to provide useful information to people. I understand the need to market your product, but I always have looked at the news as a service, not a product that requires sensationalism to sell it. In my book, news is there for those who wish to be informed. Apparently not enought people see a need to be informed to support the media enough to report the stories fairly and accurately with reasonable detail.

Every time I was watching CNN HLN I was seeing a tiny bit of information as seen through the lens that the reporter and producers thought would generate the largest audience. The worst part is being of the opinion that CNN isn't too bad in compairison to other American media outlets. The other that I like is the New York Times and the Economist which is more expensive than I wish to pay for for a regular subscription. Other outlets are worse and provide even less "news".

A case in point is the local paper here, the Sheboygan Press. There is really not a lot of news here in Sheboygan county, but they certainly report it. Sadly though it is not always news that makes the front page. The release of Star Wars Episode III is not news even though it was the cover story, it is just additional advertising for those blind to the rest of the blitz associated with the movie's release. (Yes, I saw it and liked it except for the awful scripting that sounded like a middle school student wrote it.) Not to mention that I don't think it necessary to put the crime news on the inside front page so that it is the first thing that you notice when you open the paper. That really is great for new or prospective residents to see. They do at least try to cover the issues that the citizens are interested in.

Another good example is the news in Iraq. All we ever see is the bad things happening there and how our policies suck (the impression from the articles). Yet when you talk to folks who are there or have been there there is more to the story. Good things are happening even if not everything has been well-handled at least people are trying. I would love to see articles from returning troops talking about the people they met and the good things they did, not just the body bags of those died serving there (even though that is equally part of it) and the up-to-date body count of US deaths in Iraq.

Maybe I expect too much out of the news, but I think that a well-informed populace is essential in a functioning democracy (republic, I know) and that a free media is necessary to fill this need. I just want the media to step up and fulfill this responsibility.

I'm done for now.