Thursday, August 24, 2006
What is "BREAKING NEWS"?
So I'm floundering about the internets grasping for something to post about today, when I load up MSNBC and hit the motherlode! For upon loading the page I am greeted with a big red banner directly on top that screams "BREAKING NEWS"
In an instant the possibilities race through my mind. The newest terrorist attack? A breakthrough between Israel and Hamas? The President admits he's a dunce?! It HAS to be some type of Earth shaking news to warrant this absolutely sensational notification on MSNBC... I just has to be, right?!
WRONG! Here is the actual BREAKING NEWS: "Plane carrying JonBenet Ramsey suspect John Mark Karr arrives in Colo." Huh?
Honestly! An event that was prescheduled to occur for many hours, and was absolutely routine in nature as far as the airport is concerned is BREAKING NEWS. The sensationalism of headlining something that really does not have one iota of an affect on 99.9% of MSNBC's readership, beyond tawdry rubbernecking titillation, is just tabloid in nature.
I note that on MSNBC's front page there is (or was if things have changed by the time one reads this) not one story about Iraq. I am impressed that they do have a separate section that covers the Iraq war... because going to Google and clicking on their link for World Top Stories will not load ONE single story covering anything about Iraq. Not one! They have stories about foreign troops holding together a shaky truce in the Congo, fishermen in the Phillipines who want to sue over an oil spill, and the brother of the Fox captives (I truly pray and wish they are soon released unharmed) saying that they are powerless.
The fact is that Iraq has become such a rolling trainwreck that it is no longer news when multiple car bombs rock Baghdad and dozens are killed on a daily basis. Here's what would make headlines in Iraq. A day of Iraqi peace! If there was one day that passed with no killing... or even just a couple of deaths but thats all... THAT would be news.
In the meantime, if you want to keep up with the events happening around the globe, you will just have to pick your way through the poopuffery that the networks determine you think is news. In my opinion the arrival of a scheduled flight at it's destination is not breaking news. If the flight had not arrived? That's BREAKING NEWS!
In an instant the possibilities race through my mind. The newest terrorist attack? A breakthrough between Israel and Hamas? The President admits he's a dunce?! It HAS to be some type of Earth shaking news to warrant this absolutely sensational notification on MSNBC... I just has to be, right?!
WRONG! Here is the actual BREAKING NEWS: "Plane carrying JonBenet Ramsey suspect John Mark Karr arrives in Colo." Huh?
Honestly! An event that was prescheduled to occur for many hours, and was absolutely routine in nature as far as the airport is concerned is BREAKING NEWS. The sensationalism of headlining something that really does not have one iota of an affect on 99.9% of MSNBC's readership, beyond tawdry rubbernecking titillation, is just tabloid in nature.
I note that on MSNBC's front page there is (or was if things have changed by the time one reads this) not one story about Iraq. I am impressed that they do have a separate section that covers the Iraq war... because going to Google and clicking on their link for World Top Stories will not load ONE single story covering anything about Iraq. Not one! They have stories about foreign troops holding together a shaky truce in the Congo, fishermen in the Phillipines who want to sue over an oil spill, and the brother of the Fox captives (I truly pray and wish they are soon released unharmed) saying that they are powerless.
The fact is that Iraq has become such a rolling trainwreck that it is no longer news when multiple car bombs rock Baghdad and dozens are killed on a daily basis. Here's what would make headlines in Iraq. A day of Iraqi peace! If there was one day that passed with no killing... or even just a couple of deaths but thats all... THAT would be news.
In the meantime, if you want to keep up with the events happening around the globe, you will just have to pick your way through the poopuffery that the networks determine you think is news. In my opinion the arrival of a scheduled flight at it's destination is not breaking news. If the flight had not arrived? That's BREAKING NEWS!
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