OT: Eithics and the new NEWS

[Atrocities]

Rant To Follow. Read At Own Risk

I tell ya, the 10 o'clock news up here in Portland is in the business of MAKING the news rather than reporting it. What they do report on is nonsense and what I am sure many consider to be propaganda news designed to sound impressive but have no substance.

It is so irritating to turn on the news and not have news, but rather reports on this person said this in a school, and that person emailed that person a nasty note. Hell what have we come to when a six year old become the LEADING story for having taken a GIJoe figure to school?

They make it sound like the kid is a war mongering, violent, sex offender who needs to be locked up and executed.

It sickens me that more and more news programs are deteriorating to the level of those gossip magazines that you see at the check out stands, you know the ones, they have head lines that are so stupid you laugh. Well I am not laughing any more.

Those who report the news have a ethical mandate to report the news, no make it up, not to become the police, not to capture criminals, and not to sell a person civil rights or freedoms down the drain for better Ratings.

What happened? Why now are all the news networks and program so wrapped up on making the news, in taking sides and airing opinions rather than facts?

I truly wish that congress and the senate would take a serious look at what has become the news, and draft legislation that clearly outlines the principles, ethics, and standard that all news organizations must meet. That violating a persons right to privacy, reporting rumors and not facts, and using their power to destroy will bring a hefty price tag in the way of fines and consequences both civil and criminal.

Telling people how to live their lives is not reporting the news. Telling people about every little nit picking minor incident that happened that day because by sensationalizing it they can gain a higher rating must come to a stop.

A persons rights should never be violated by the six o'clock news!

No person charged with a serious crime will ever get a fair trial if they are judge by the media before hand. Let us, the people, form our own judgement based upon the true and accurate facts, not on half truths, sound bites, and rumors.

A camera does more than record the events of the day, in the wrong hands, it can change the events of the day for both good and bad depending upon who is holding it.

People cannot possible be this dumb as to believe that what the news networks and programs are dishing out is the truth. By God they cannot be that dumb, can they?

If we buy into the hype, the sensationalism, the drama, the sound bytes, and the media circus, then what chance have we got in ever being told the truth?

[ February 19, 2004, 05:33: Message edited by: Atrocities ]