U.S. Media Failures Only Feed The Ignorance In Americans

Why is it that me, a nobody, can turn on network news and hear the words "Breaking News" come out of Brian Williams' mouth, only to find what he's telling us is something I already was aware of, usually 3 wks to 6 months earlier? Why is it that the tv media isn't up to par with the online media? Now you might say it's because of all the legal hoops that have to be dealt with at the large corporate owned networks. That goes without saying, but is it a good enough excuse?

I'm very tired, numb from being up all night out looking for my old cat whom I knew must be injured or he would have come home. After snooping thru neighbor's bushes in the cold night up and down the streets, I came in only to find him crunched in a chair in his room, with a huge puss-filled gash in his chest. It was almost 5 a.m. and I was pooped. But I had to spend an hour squeezing all the blood filled puss from his wound and dousing it with antiseptic. After using what antibiotics (I had around here) on him externally and internally, I locked him in his room (with the necessary food/water/litter box), and collapsed in bed myself.

Now after only a few hours sleep, and checking on my beloved Max, I decided to get online for a short bit before crashing back into my heavenly pillows. I came across this article on a new book coming out by Howard Kurtz that covers the network media and their inside chatter....and some of their (many) failures surrounding Iraq and this administration. From what I've read in this long article, it seems the only one who had any balls (or brains?) was Katie Couric. She was pressured by an NBC corporate exec to cool it down when her tone was skeptical (when all other media outlets were falling in line like zombies behind the Bush administration).

Isn't that sad? Isn't it sad that all of our tv media is a complete failure? and yes, they are complete failures. They have no balls. They kowtow to corporate ownership, the almighty $$$, cowardice of being verbally thrashed by Fox-the-fake-news-network, and afraid for their cushy careers that give them a damned easy job that pays for that luxury home, the 3 BMW's in the driveway, and the nice new yacht down at the docks. Patriotism, character, and pride all sold out for materialism. It is after all, the American Way!

So here ya go, the article written by WaPo that gives us some excerpts/details of this book. It's not the book or the behind the scenes soap opera like drama that's interesting to me. I don't give a crap about that. So what Matt Lauer (Republican), said that Katie Couric (Democrat) would probably not do well at the 6:30 p.m. anchor spot. Because, he said, (according to the article), that he felt it doesn't play to her strengths... how is this news worthy? How is this bad? Those words don't trash her. They sounded more like a sincere opinion he felt towards his co-worker.. nothing bad.

I have sincerely a daily concern for the dumbing down of the country I was born in and once had so much pride in. We are only as informed as our media lets us be. We are only as smart as we are informed. If we don't search for that information (as many of us do on the internet), then we sit complacent, ignorant of all sides of an issue, unable to open that window and look outside and see whats really there to see.

The article and book are about the behind the scenes drama of the network news, but it is one side of a much bigger issue that must be dealt with if this country is going to survive.

WaPo Article-Read this

I have just one more thing to rant about before I head off (back) to bed. If Fox News isn't dealt with, brought down, and if CNN doesn't step up to the plate and find their balls, their spine, and get back to hard hitting real (truthful) news, then we are in serious trouble. If CNN would find it's spine and Fox were laughed off the air for the frivolous right-wing-antics that it obviously is, then it wouldn't matter what MSNBC does... it can continue to be a non-issue, a 3rd rate right wing fluff network for it's Fox-wannabe right wing commentators.

Ted Turner where are you when we need you? I know you're old, just like Robert Redford, Jane Fonda, Paul Newman, George Soros, Al Gore, and so many others. But if you folks put your $$$, your brains, and your strengths (all) together, wow, you could change the world.. or at least our media outlets that are dumbing down this nation.

Ed Note:
See, I'm not the only one spouting off online, concerned about what's happening around us.