Saturday, October 30, 2010
A couple of weeks ago, the rescue of Chilean miners captivated our 24 hour news networks for….well…for 24 hours on one day and virtually an additional 24 hours during the day that followed.
Yes, it was inspiring and heartwarming to see every single one of the miners delivered from a potentially horrible fate. I’m not saying this shouldn’t have been aired on the news. I’m not even saying it shouldn’t have been on a lot. But it did remind me after a while of similar happenings, namely other times when world events went into hibernation in exchange for a popular story, slow (if not void) of additional unfoldings. One example would be the coverage of Michael Jackson’s passing. Glenn Beck put it best when he finally returned to his own program (after several days of Jackson inspired preemptions) to say, “News flash: According to our most reliable sources, Michael Jackson is still dead.”
The same phenomenon came about after the space shuttle Columbia crash and even during several Florida hurricanes, where there was little new development save Geraldo Rivera standing on the shore telling us how windy it was getting and looking (perhaps deliberately) like quite the brave, macho individual.
While news networks waste our time 24 hours a day, terrorists plan around the clock those same 24 hours. We also face a history making election, battling for the soul of our country. And consider how several key free speech related issues that could change our way of life sit in the hands of the courts, not the republic. With that in mind, I simply am not interested in watching Geraldo bring about the ground breaking, chilling news that hurricanes tend to blow in Florida. Neither did we need to listen to talking heads in between each hour of rescue as the first miners were pulled up one at a time, an hour apart from each other. Yes, for the families of the miners, nothing could possibly be more important. For the rest us: Hmm..It seems one or two other things were going on. After all, the world is a big place and CNN, MSNBC and FOX do call themselves world news networks.
When I was a kid, I hated nothing more than seeing my favorite TV shows interrupted to talk about world news events. Back then, I was angry over the preemption of Lost In Space, or I Love Lucy or The Andy Griffith Show. I guess I’ve grown up. Now I am bothered when news is canceled for non-news. Oh, by the way, about that hurricane in Florida: It came after all. And…(Hold on to your seats) the following year another one came!!! Details at 11:00.
Share this on
