Won't Get Fooled Again

I’ve wanted to write about this for a couple weeks but I was having trouble getting started. I couldn’t think of the best way to get started until today. As I was reading the news on Yahoo, I came across an article on the front page that was talking about a new scandal sweeping through the Obama administration. Apparently, Fox news reported that Barack Obama put Dijon mustard on his hamburger, and MSNBC, which is apparently favourable to Barack, chose to edit the clip of him ordering a burger, so as to avoid showing the president asking for Dijon mustard. It seems that Fox news feels that Barack ordering Dijon mustard on a burger is evidence that he is elitist and not in touch with the American population, and also, that MSNBC is in the back pocket of Barack and the Democratic Party, covering up any situations which may spell trouble for the democrats and their new found power.

Really? Is that newsworthy? I don’t think it is. And it leaves me scratching my head and wondering what has happened to broadcast journalism (and journalism in general). It’s gotten to the point where I can’t really watch the news anymore. It’s too painful to watch. Most news reports lack any substance and don’t report on the truly important things going on in the world and in the community. They seem to follow a simple rubric of throw in a couple murders or accidents, followed by a political story, a financial story, a story about a bake sale or some charity, followed by some scare tactic about some group in the world who (I’m made to believe) wants to kill me for some random reason, followed by a shot of a squirrel on water skies. Meanwhile, the news hosts are “acting” like robots, turning serious when the need arises, and then instantly switching to charming and delightful on command. It’s disgusting. And it gets even worse with news channels. I remember when Obama was in the midst of his inauguration, and he was taking a train ride to Washington (don’t remember where from). CNN covered the entire 7-8 hour train ride. It was 7-8 hours of Obama’s train, with detailed accounts of the route, and what Obama was wearing and where he was at every second of the trip. And why did they do this? Because they have to fill 17 hours a day with news, and they spend their time focusing on the least important things, while major news events from around the world go unattended. And I don’t think for a second that there will ever be a day, where 8 hours go by, in which there isn’t something more important or more newsworthy than Barack Obama riding a train.

Ultimately, I want a return to the days of men like Edward Murrow and Martha Gellhorn. I want the news to ask the risky and tough questions of our government and of our political forces. I want to know what is happening in other places in the world, and who is fighting who, and why they are fighting. I want to understand why the economy is in shambles, and who is responsible for that, and what measures are being taken to fix the economy and reprimand those who are responsible. I want to know of situations where people are being taken advantage of and what is being done to help them and what my government and other governments are going to do about it. And I want journalists to actually do their homework and have credible sources. I read an article today about a 22 year old student who put a fake quote on Wikipedia to see if it would be picked up, only to have several papers use it without any reference to Wikipedia. Journalists have to stop being lazy and grow a pair of balls.

In all honesty, and I am deadly serious about this, I believe that Jon Stewart is one of the best journalists out there today. He is under no obligation to have any journalistic integrity, yet he consistently delivers news that is important, as well as provides insightful and critical interviews. Two examples of things that I just recently watched: 1) when he went on crossfire and ruined Tucker Carlson, and 2) when Jim Cramer (of CNBC’s Mad Money) came on the shoe and Stewart basically made him apologize for making a game out of the finances of the average person, while lying through his teeth. He’s amazing! And maybe he is in a special position to do that. Maybe because he is on a comedy network, he can be the type of journalist that the world needs because, as long as he is funny about it, he can stay on the air. Maybe people enjoy watching his show for comedy and prefer watching CNN for 8 hour train rides. I don’t know?

I guess, in the end, the news is just about entertainment. News channels couldn’t exist if they weren’t making money, which requires them to bring in an audience to bring in advertising dollars. In order to bring in the audience, I guess they have use scare tactics, celebrity voyeurism, and pandering to different interest groups. I would love to see the news become less about profit and more about honest and important journalism. But then less people would watch it and maybe it’s better to have people watching then news then not? Even if that news is of a much lower quality then it should be? Maybe the future is in blogging and other areas like that, where there is less emphasis on money making, and less need for censorship and pandering to the masses.

Anyway, I suggest watching Good Night and Good Luck (Edward Murrow is the fucking man), Frost vs Nixon, and the Daily Show (and to a lesser extent, the Colbert Report).

(Won’t Get Fooled Again by The Who, from the album Who’s Next. If you haven’t listened to this ... you need to ... right now! However, I’m fairly certain that Jesse is the only person who reads my blog at the moment, and I know he’s heard it. Hey Jesse!)