Read, People!!!

Don't watch TV! I know it's much easier for me to say this considering we still don't have cable, but people, really, if you don't like the quality of broadcast news, DON'T WATCH IT!

Today during church, the minister made a comment about how an idiot journalist asked someone basically floating on a piece of driftwood, "Are you effected by this?" The minister went on to ask the (as-if-he-were-there journalist) "Where did you go to school?" I wanted to yell out, "USC!!!" just to mess with the rest of the ultra-Trojan-fan congregation.

Alas, we all-knowing J-School folk all know that a MU grad would NEVER ask such a silly question. However, my frustration was not just with the journalist. Obviously it's a dumb question, but I also wanted to tell my minister how ignorant he was by staying tuned to watch the news program. It is because people continue to get their news from shameful, stupid broadcasters that people don't like or trust media (yes, I know media is plural--I apologize for saying "media is" in a previous post . . . ). Now, not all broadcasters are bad reporters, but all in all broadcast news is not the most reliable source of news information. Nearly every educated person in America knows that broadcast journalists get their jobs based not only on their reporting skills but also on their haircuts, their accents (or lack thereof), their weight, their smile, etc. And just because Jane Smiley has a great bob and is a size 3 and is under 40 years old does NOT automatically make her the best disseminator of news. Yet, American idiots still choose her as the source of their news. Now, I know that there are great broadcast reporters out there--I do believe you can be beautiful and smart or talented, but because you are beautiful does not mean that you are smart or talented.

However, if being overweight and ugly makes you a great reporter, print journalists are the best there are out there! The most print editors care about as far as looks go is, "Can you fit inside a car? Great! You're in!" Really, though . . . print journalists are a dying breed thanks to current Western society, and we must save them! (I'll be taking donations for the overweight, mulleted journalists at the end of this blog)

There is an art to print reporting that is getting lost every day. Print is becoming all about service and old-people fodder. Our generation, the one raised as an ADD nation on Sesame Street, keeps turning to the 11 o'clock news as our only source. If you want, keep watching the 11 o'clock news, people, but READ as well. And don't just read it and take it as fact. Question it, ponder it, analyze it, analyze the writer--we print journalists LIKE when you do that to our work (don't really get that same feeling from the broadcast breed--have any of you mafioso noticed how few times the broadcast people chime into the ethics and reflection conversations on the mafia lists???). But just don't spend your time complaining about how much of an idiot a journalist is--you're the bigger idiot by continuing to get your news from that journalist and its media outlet.

If people would stop complaining about journalists and turn to multiple sources (i.e. many TV channels, newspapers, the Internet, magazines, etc.), they would have far less to complain about. You have choices of where you get the news, people. Not only is there freedom of the press, but there is more than one press. It's up to you to find the best ones. (Also, please let them know that I'm looking for a job . . . )