What's in the News Today

I am taking a political science class, and I couldn't have taken it at a better time. The November elections are quickly approaching, of course, I have no say in the matter, and all I can hope for is a leader who is more compassionate in the immigration policies. My political science class concentrates on the role of media in politics. Thankfully, we don't discuss the actual politics that goes on -- my instructor defined politics as the struggle to allocate values in society. We all know that I've got enough struggles to last me a lifetime, without struggling to allovate values in society. I'll leave that to the rest of y'all for now.

I have increasingly grown cynical of the media. It is one of the reasons why I decided not to become a journalist -- I am by nature a non-partisan, neutral, mild-mannered person. But I am very devout in my sense of what is right and what is wrong. I seem to be attracted to professions (as my career) that operate without bias -- journalism, medicine/nursing, teaching, etc.. I liked journalism, because it told it like it was. It doesn't matter if the public doesn't want to hear it, or it outrages the viewer; journalism is not judgmental. It is good and wholesome in that it doesn't take sides or have an agenda. Until I grew up and removed my rose-colored spectacles, that is.

The media has been taken over by evil capitalists. I have no disregard for capitalists -- I commend them in their ability to make money and generate revenue and whatnot. But journalism is a sacred field -- journalists, and that includes newspaper reporters, TV anchors, people in radio, and much more, should not be owned for a specific interest. Everything has come to be "all about the benjamins." Money talks, I suppose.

There was a time that I honestly thought that Monica was at Bill's side all the time at every public outing, and that they hugged every chance they got. Until I looked deeper and realized that it was actually the re-run of the same, single hug they shared on one occasion. The media was not only working to accomodate the ratings -- they were feeding us miscellaneous and misleading information.

Perhaps my brief training doesn't quite give me the rights to critique the mass media. But I can recall at least one incident when I really wanted to pick up the phone and call somebody and tell them a piece of my mind.

Bill Clinton (sorry to be tripping all over this poor man!) had a quadruple bypass not too long ago. It happened on the night before I left DC, in fact. I was watching it on the news. The next morning, I tuned into the news again, before I left for the airport -- many stations were featuring that story. They interviewed Dr. Craig Smith -- the name is so vivid in my mind because I was so appalled and you'll see why -- the top surgeon who worked on Bill's situation. Only, I didn't quite get it.

Dr. Craig Smith looked different on the two stations -- namely CNN and FOX. In fact, Dr. Craig Smith were two different people! One station had a slightly hefty blond man posing as this famous doc, and the other had a slightly emaciated dark-haired man playing him. Now, what is that all about? Most of y'all out in the west coast might have missed that interview, unless they had re-runs of it, or decided to correct the error -- what I saw, was at about 7AM EST, which would have been 4AM PST.

I could not believe that such major news organizations would make such a faux-pas. Bad, bad, bad! I'm sure that one station interviewed the actual doctor (the one on CNN, I believe, was wearing scrubs, while the one on FOX was in a suit) and the other station interviewed the director of the hospital or some other authority. But the little blurb on the bottom of the screen said, "via satellite, Dr. Craig Smith." The anchors didn't specifically address the person as "Dr. Craig Smith" when speaking to these individuals -- I tuned in midway through the interview. But the caption said what I just said that it said, and I saw it with my two wide open eyes.

How can we trust the news? I am constantly trying to be aware while reading the LA Times (which AGAIN was stolen/did not arrive/MIA anyhoot!) of any possible bias. Should I be in constant worry that I might be inflicted with an agenda or invalid information? The news media should do better than this. They need to rise above the push and pull of things; the ratings, the money, the corporations that own them. And we need to turn off the TV and don't feed the ratings for something like a highway chase, Michael Jackson trial, Janet's boobies, and understand how to decifer between the real news and entertainment. Be aware of what information the tube feeds you. It may be force feeding you more than those bags of potato chips you consume on your couch.