Friday, June 24, 2011

Irony on the Evening News

I watched the CBS news last night. I have to admit, I don't really consider the network news to be actual journalism, it's more like a glitzy presentation of the headlines from the AP wire. Have you ever noticed that with the exception of a few "human interest" stories, all three networks report the exact same stories? Sometimes it's almost verbatim!

Anyhow, last night there was a very ironic juxtaposition between one of the AP wire stories and a human interest piece that CBS had produced. It was so ironic, in fact that it almost had me yelling at the television set again.

So first up we have an uplifting human interest story about how Dallas/Fort Worth is beating the recession. What's going on, you might ask? Well, it turns out that the headquarters of a large video game company is located there and they can't hire people fast enough. I guess the American economy will be saved by Doom?


Then we cut straight to a piece about the alarming rise in obesity among American children.


And they drew absolutely no connection between the two stories. I couldn't believe it. I mean, I was shouting at the television set... "Hello?!? Does anybody see a connection here?"

It's mind boggling. I don't know how the newscaster could do it with a straight face. Perhaps the main qualification for news anchor these days is the ability to take text from teleprompter to mouth without ever going through the brain?

Anyhow, if you'd like to witness the atrocity for yourself, here'a a video of the newscast. I couldn't find a clip of the stories in question, but they start at about 12 minutes and 25 seconds. Enjoy.

4 comments :

  1. I usually have the Today Show on for background noise when I get ready for work. It often amazes me how they have no transition between horrifying news stories and the fluff pieces. They just go from talking to parents whose child was murdered to "Up next, we bake a pie!!" in the bat of an eye. It seems wrong somehow.

    I also hate, hate, HATE when newscasters banter. But I digress....

    There is still one "news" show I still enjoy and watch regularly: The Sunday Morning Show on CBS. I love it, but it's not hard news, just human interest type pieces that are actually interesting.

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  2. Next thing you know we'll have child murderers baking pies!

    I am actually a bit of a news junkie. I love Rachel Maddow for politics, Amy Goodman (Democracy Now) for world events, and Anderson Cooper does a pretty good job of getting to the heart of big stories.

    But if I really want to know what's going on in the world I watch Jon Stewart. I think it's a sad commentary on our society that the only person willing to really tell the truth is a comedian!

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  3. Quite ironic, and, sadly, not surprising that most people miss the obvious connection.

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  4. Good to know that I'm not missing much by not watching the "news"

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