Maybe I was too young and naive... and not cynical enough, but I always thought that news should be delivered the way Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite did it. If you're not in your 50's yet, you're asking, "Who?" Just like the other day, when I was showing my son and his 21 year old girlfriend some old photos. I said, "This is me in Viet Nam at the Bob Hope Christmas Show at Chu Lai in 1968." I knew for sure I was "an older gentleman," when she said, "Who is Bob Hope?"
Back in high school (1959-1963), we were taught that "journalists" operated from a strong code of ethics. If not fully disclosed as "an opinion piece," all reporting was to be "fair and unbiased." We certainly have been whistling and skipping away from that quaint notion for some time now, haven't we? That sort of thing went bye-bye when the guy stopped coming out of the gas station to ask, "Fill er' up? Let me clean that windshield, check your oil, top off your washer fluid, and put air in your tires... OK, sir?"
What we have now causes me to scratch my head and wonder... Like the pictures above, we've got MSNBC way over on THE LEFT. You gotta' love Keith Olbermann and Campbell Brown. The Obama "love fest" is out of control. Way over on THE RIGHT, we get to watch Sean Hannity, the inimitable Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Laura Ingraham, Shepard Smith, and Bill O'Reilly's "Factor." They make it sound like the Revolution should start tomorrow. CNN claims middle ground, yet it's simply not so. Wolf Blitzer and Lou Dobbs and the gang are very "Links um die Ecke." Most network news, including CBS and ABC has a strong liberal bias. That is a factual statement. Some claim that because of the public funding the NPRs and PBSs of the world "have to be" unbiased. Please... No way... Left and Left, again!
For my disclosure statement, I'm a conservative political being. BUT... FOX News often makes my skin crawl. Here's my problem: I support about 80% of the message, but only about 20% of the delivery. So much anger! And all contrived! You know why this is, don't you? No matter where we stand politically, we can't change the fact that TV/Radio/News Paper/On Line "News" isn't really news. It's pure and simple "Entertainment."
So where does that leave us if we want some decent news? Try C-SPAN; it's boring, but it's pretty straightforward. For a view of "us" from "them," try BBC, or the perspective of the wonderful folks at Aljazerra. In the meantime, I'll be pining for the days of Murrow and Cronkite.
1 comment:
Mr. Zedar- I remember you back in high school. You were a good writer then too - school paper and all, as I recall. I stumbled on your blog. I always took you for a liberal back then, but I guess you going to Viet Nam kiboshes that notion. And you're right - the "news" is a joke - Left OR Right. Go Royals. Your D.C. Insider.
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