The News and I

My relationship with the news is not very strong.  I will read the news when something big and important happens, when I am passing time at work, and when I search for the comics in the Sunday paper.  I learned how to write a news story once in middle school, but have never written any since then.

The internet is my main source for news.  If I hear of a big story, I will check online before the television, and the I’ll check the television before the paper.  (The television provides news faster than waiting for the paper).  Hearing a story simply by word of mouth is not informative and is often exaggerated.  For example, I was at Kennywood when it was hit by the major storm several years ago.  The other people at the park kept saying that there were dead bodies everywhere.  This however was not the case.  Upon returning home, my family watched the news to learn only one person had died (internet news was not big at that time).

The other reason why I will read the news is to pass time at work.  Since we receive the newspaper where I work, I sift through the pages on my breaks, checking to see if there are any interesting headlines.  Usually I like to read the weather and the entertainment section before any of the hard news.  On Sundays I glance through the headlines on my way to finding the comics.  A story that would interest me would be a major story or a story that is utterly bizarre.  For instance, finding drugs inside live turkeys is an interesting news story.

When it comes to writing news, I wrote one news story in middle school about the SARS virus (which had much of the scare that swine flu does now).  Other than that, I have had no experience writing news.  It is interesting, however, to find that news will often repeat itself over the years.  Similar things will happen, and the news will react to it the in the same way.  For instance, the SARS virus and Swine flu are closely related like any possible pandemic the news reports.

Although I have never written the news and only read it when I am passing time, I still find it interesting.