A Brief Look at the State of the Media

We're always talking about the State of the State, and the State of the Union, and the various mental and emotional states of the people living in the states. But we're all products of our environment (for better or worse) and part of this environment, obviously, is the media.

Unfortunately, the media has decided to bombard us with the most sensational, irrational and headline selling stories in big bold 36 point font, then burying or completely ignoring other stories according to some sort of um, well, I don't know what it's according to. But take into consideration the picture here. This is from the front page of a "well known, respected" news source. Let's examine it point by point.

Let's start with the headline. This is traditionally the point in any newspaper where they will put out the day's biggest news. Apparently, the most important thing that happened in the world today was the death of a single American entertainment pilot. Now, while a true tragedy to be sure...is this really the most important news headline of the day?

Let's get to the second line though...did they back it up with a solid story in the wings? Not hardly. A story about clues to the VaTech killer's motives. Ok. Let's be clear. I mean no insensitivity to the tragedy suffered by the students, staff and families both directly and indirectly through this guy's actions. But this has occupied the news far too long at this point. He was fucked up. He shot a ton of unarmed and helpless people, then he shot himself. I think the fact that this is still in the news does a few things. First, it tries to rationalize and find an answer to something that doesn't have one. Secondly, it serves as motivation for any other sick soul that sees the deceased get this kind of attention and scrutiny far after his suicide and thinks, "why not me?"

Second headline...more VaTech. Third headline, NASA shooter. Then it goes humanitarian rice story, us building a wall around a sect of Iraqis and our troops benefiting from "dumb luck." In fact, when you look at all the side stories, you wonder if anything really happened in the world today at all. I mean, did any news happen that wasn't directly related to Americans and/or some stupid story line meant to get readers?

It's easy to show a Blue Angel's death as a headline and sell papers. But isn't CNN's responsibility to keep Americans informed on the state of the world and their increasingly tentative place in it? Make Blue Angels a side story, and give us another story about a bus bomb killing 148 Iraqis. Unfortunately, it's sensational, sells papers, and is just more Iraq news (you almost get the feeling from the hasty Blue Angel Headline that they were looking to be able to put anything in that top spot OTHER than Iraq (let's face it, everyone is tired of hearing how bad things are over there, so let's talk about something else)), but at least it tells an important story that we have slept through for far too long now.

In conclusion, I would encourage everyone to look for some alternative news sources.