Saturday, June 30, 2007

Ridiculous News Values

Headlines from the front page of the Sacramento Bee this a.m.

  • Detainees win appeal - Top court's reversal sets stage for a fight over Guantanamo
  • iPhone answers the call to be hip
  • July 4th holiday is a dud for some - Wednesday respite can leave employers struggling all weel
  • Tahoe agency is focus of fury - Residents say they weren't allowed to clear trees, brush
  • Barring surprise deluge, L.A. to record driest rain season

Buried on page 12 and cocooned by a Lamps Plus, Becks Furniture, and D&L Furniture Ad:

  • Police in London find, defuse bombs in 2 cars

What kind of ridiculous news values are these?

Terrorists try to bomb one of the largest and most important cities in the world, the capital city of your closest ally, and the Sacramento Bee thinks that a new toy, an annual holiday, and rainfall totals are more appropriate for the front page.

Ok, so the Bee isn't exactly the bastion of quality journalism - this isn't new news to me - but it just irks. News media in this country is either provincial, sensationalist, celebrity-obsessed, and targeted at the lowest common denominator OR (in the case of what are considered to be the more serious broadsheets) it's long-winded, boring, puffed-up with a sense of it's own importance, and generally unreadable.

I miss the news values of my home. I learn more about the world in 30 minutes of BBC news than I do in 365 days of watching the drivel that appears in newspapers and on tv out here. The only exception here is NPR radio which is the one thing that keeps me sane.

And with that, I'm done.

2 comments:

e said...

Hear, hear!! The BBC is completely unbeatable. Hands down, best news organization in the world. Period.

If you have satellite radio or satellite tv, I think you can get it.

Otherwise, you and I are left w/ NPR and the BBC website.

At least the news networks are talking about this. In fact, that's all their talking about, so it seems they get that this is a big big deal.

For a sane perspective, stay tuned for the Daily Show and the Colbert Report.

Chester The Bear said...

I find National Inquirer often contains more intelligent journalism than much of the mainstream US media.

Personally, I think it's the beginning of the end of the world as we know it, and your kids had better learn Chinese and Arabic if they're going to get anywhere.

Related Posts with Thumbnails