And for this, they get millions!
New isn't news anymore ... it's entertainment; it's the business of entertainment. And we watch it hoping for a gem, something we might need or want to know about this huge, mysterious and magical world we live in.
And if there isn't a murder or fire to fill the time they are paid to fill? Well, it seems they make it up - or elaborate on items that are somewhat less than newsworthy. If they can juice it up, they think we'll eat it up ... right?
Take the recent "scandal" about one of our Presidential candidates. To put this in perspective, it's mid-summer in the run-up to the 2012 Presidential election, and the Olympics just started. One candidate decided that he'd run over to London to score some points and during an interview was asked about whether he thought the British Olympic Organization was ready for the pending events. His response was benign, certainly not caustic or even as critical as the news media itself as they were trying to create controversial news from nothing. It should have been ignored as a passing comment but the media blew it all out of proportion in order to grab air time and "make news." The more they lathered it up, the more people had to add their own thoughts to the fray. Ugh!
But that's not the point of this short blurb. More on that later when I have more time. The point of this one is a rub: why do they hire people who can't speak the language. Here's the scene. We're watching the bicycle race along the beautiful London streets, during which one of the cyclists takes a nasty spill. It happens. She wasn't killed, hurt a bit maybe. I'm sure dozens of them do it during the race. It happens. But this one commentator was apparently eager for more "on air" time, so he and his producers decided to make something of it, and 7 minutes of blathering ensued ... with no less than four replays of the fall itself.
As the commentator droned on, someone must have found a tid-bit about the rider, and he was compelled to include the phrase: "... and this was the corner near where her and her husband Joe were recently married." That's the rub and it happens all the time. It's like nails on a chalkboard. Shouldn't the people who make their considerable livings communicating with the masses at least know how to use their own language?
Well, that was a low-level news person for sure, and it was a slip of the tongue. Not really. It happens all the time, even with some of our most notable news anchors. It's not always spur-of-the-moment, some of it is actually scripted. And I'm offended. Not because I'm such a master of our language; there are several errors in this copy alone. But because they get paid millions of dollars for what? Irresponsible reporting, creating news from everyday events and clobbering their own language. At the very least they should be tested for their command of the language, even if there's no test for responsibility.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Take the recent "scandal" about one of our Presidential candidates. To put this in perspective, it's mid-summer in the run-up to the 2012 Presidential election, and the Olympics just started. One candidate decided that he'd run over to London to score some points and during an interview was asked about whether he thought the British Olympic Organization was ready for the pending events. His response was benign, certainly not caustic or even as critical as the news media itself as they were trying to create controversial news from nothing. It should have been ignored as a passing comment but the media blew it all out of proportion in order to grab air time and "make news." The more they lathered it up, the more people had to add their own thoughts to the fray. Ugh!
But that's not the point of this short blurb. More on that later when I have more time. The point of this one is a rub: why do they hire people who can't speak the language. Here's the scene. We're watching the bicycle race along the beautiful London streets, during which one of the cyclists takes a nasty spill. It happens. She wasn't killed, hurt a bit maybe. I'm sure dozens of them do it during the race. It happens. But this one commentator was apparently eager for more "on air" time, so he and his producers decided to make something of it, and 7 minutes of blathering ensued ... with no less than four replays of the fall itself.
As the commentator droned on, someone must have found a tid-bit about the rider, and he was compelled to include the phrase: "... and this was the corner near where her and her husband Joe were recently married." That's the rub and it happens all the time. It's like nails on a chalkboard. Shouldn't the people who make their considerable livings communicating with the masses at least know how to use their own language?
Well, that was a low-level news person for sure, and it was a slip of the tongue. Not really. It happens all the time, even with some of our most notable news anchors. It's not always spur-of-the-moment, some of it is actually scripted. And I'm offended. Not because I'm such a master of our language; there are several errors in this copy alone. But because they get paid millions of dollars for what? Irresponsible reporting, creating news from everyday events and clobbering their own language. At the very least they should be tested for their command of the language, even if there's no test for responsibility.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
posted by Dave Smith | 7:51 AM
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