August 2009 Archives

Breaking News Just In...Maybe...Well Not So Much....

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 I love The Onion. I really, really do. This video shows an excellent spoof of exactly what we hear when "Breaking News" flashes across the bottom of the screen. In every circumstance of "Breaking News" the reporters are stone faced and have absolutely no idea what is going on, just like the anchor in the Onion video. Her tone and her statements are exactly what we hear during "real" Breaking News.

 

I was reading Angela's blog entry and she said the video reminded her of the Fitness Center shooting and I also remember hearing six people were killed and it was actually four. The video also reminded me of 9-11. It's very hard to watch any sort of Breaking News today and not think of the attack. I remember watching TV news for hours and hours because everything kept changing and unlike the video on The Onion the news just got worse. But for the first few hours, well I should say days, not a lot of facts were known. Breaking News is not the news to watch to get facts.

 

The part of the video that really made me laugh was when the picture of the reporter popped up and his birth and death were displayed after a loud pop was heard, the news station presuming his death. My, wouldn't that be "Breaking News" indeed!

Raw Emotion Means Lack of Respect

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Byron's first article immediately made me  think of one of the news casts I saw the day after the LA Fitness Center shooting in Pittsburgh. It was either Channel 4 or Channel 2 news and the reporters were getting statements from people who knew the victims. All of a sudden a woman was on the screen saying, "Nu uh! No way!" The reporter had just told her one of the dead victims was her neighbor. The woman yelled for her husband and was in obvious shock. I was appalled and immediately turned the news off. According to Byron, what I witnessed was "reporters [that] want to capture emotions so badly, they completely forget any notion of allowing privacy or personal dignity to grieving victims or their families."

 

I agree with Byron and I think the TV news is out of control. It really is easier in this century to go online and get the facts. If we don't watch TV news then there won't be reporters infringing on people's privacy to such extremes as the above. Emotions aren't going to influence me into watching your news station. I want facts and I want to come to my own conclusions. I am lucky enough to have the ability to check my facts and my news. I would rather do the research than be subjected to TV News drama-that's why Days of Our Lives is still on the air after 44 years. Get your raw emotional fix from actors and let victims have their dignity.

TV News Elicits Emotional Responses...Or Tries To

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I didn't find the breaking news very exciting. Cars wreck....alot. They even travel in the wrong direction...alot. But the breaking part came because these accidents weren't reported on during the other news casts.

 

To me, the most interesting news story was the four boys who escaped from their foster home. And that could be because I like a good story. Four small boys aged 9, 7, 5, 3 run away from their abusive foster parents is a statement that elicits emotion. However, I was surprised that the news displayed photos of a boy with bruises on his skin since it wasn't determined whether the women were being charged for anything or not. But now everyone will think they are guilty. I do. And I hope they rot for abusing children. And I'm betting that's just what they wanted you to feel.

 

But the headliner for the evening was the student at CMU who killed him/her self. The reporter actually stated that their station doesn't typically report on suicides. Is suicide really that common? Is it still too taboo to discuss?  Or is it just extra interesting since the student plummeted to their death from a few flights of stairs?

A Famous Person Has (fill in the blank)

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As soon as I saw this strip I thought of Michael Jackson. I usually have the entertainment section up on my igoogle homepage and every single day since his death he was made one or more of the five articles.

 

Today's was interesting, take a look- When is Heroin Not Really Heroin? When It's at Michael Jackson's House. So, yeah it was actually nothing and definitely not worth publishing this article because guess how the reporter ends it? With, "My, how nothing has changed as the case drags on."

 

They WHY did they publish this article?! I would never have clicked on it if I wasn't looking for an example to go along with the cartoon. I just had an eerie suspicion that this article was reporting on nothing.