The Sage Observer

Our News Media

Have you noticed how bad our news reporting has become in these current times? I am one of those who try to keep abreast of what is happening around me; and I have to tell you our news media, from my perspective, does not do a very good job. I find it to be very disappointing. I have sent emails to some, but to no avail. I don’t even get the courtesy of an answer. Depending on your particular interests, you may or may not agree with me, but here are my views for you to consider.

I have written before about the purpose of a business being to fulfill a need, the need of its customer(s) or client(s)–to provide a product or service. That’s the purpose of a business–the only purpose. To do that profitably, service should be the primary focus and priority of the business. What has happened is that business has changed its priority and focus from service to the maximization of profit. Everything else comes last–customers, employees, our nation, and on.

I don’t sit and time these things using a stopwatch, and I’m not going to now; but it appears to me that we are experiencing more and more commercials and less news. The majority of the time when I tune in my favorite news station, a commercial will come up. It seems there are more commercials than programming. It has gotten so bad I watch that particular channel half as much as I used to watch it. There is increasing entertainment, gossip, political propaganda, and what people like to hear, but less news.

Let me give you some examples. What triggered our financial crisis in 2008 was the market crash in credit default swaps (derivatives). At the time, I heard there were $400 Trillion of them in the world market. On the same news program a couple weeks or so later a different executive reported there were $900 Trillion in existence. Our whole world GDP only amounts to around $70 Trillion Dollars. Think about that. Don’t you think the accuracy of those numbers has worldwide importance? I have hardly heard any reporting on credit default swaps since. Why?

Another example–The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Report on the causes of the 2008 financial and economic crisis reported in January, 2011 that twenty one million people were unemployed. I think that is important, if not critical, news. When was the last time you were updated on unemployment today? I’m not talking about this fiction you hear, like 7.6%, etc. How many people are out of a job today–including those who are part time only or given up looking? I submit to you that many, if not most of them, will never find meaningful employment again in their lifetime. Don’t you think that is important? Are they to meld into the woodwork to be forever forgotten?

For the sake of brevity, I’ll give you one last example. You remember, don’t you, the killing of a suspect in the Boston bombing in Orlando? Allegedly, he was a friend or had some kind of relationship with the bomber in Boston. He was reported as having been led into a room in Orlando for questioning by the FBI when he lunged at the questioning agent, who shot and killed him. It’s my understanding that suspects are searched for weapons, when they are detained, before they are questioned. Was this the shooting of an unarmed man? In light of our belief in justice, i.e. a suspect is considered innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, don’t you think the media should follow that story right down to reporting the findings of its investigation? Don’t you think knowledge of that event is in the public interest? The story of the young woman who murdered her boyfriend was on the news for weeks just a while back, including her sex acts. In my opinion, that had nothing to do with the public interest, but it was reported in infinite detail. Rather than being reported as news, it was, I think, entertainment.

Another disturbing aspect of today’s news has to do with editorializing by journalists. An anchor will be interviewing an “expert” on a particular subject. He or she will persistently interrupt and argue with the expert. What’s wrong with this picture? I want to hear the expert, the one with the expertise. I don’t want to hear the opinion of one who is the less knowledgeable on the subject.

When I turn to the news, I want to be informed; I want to be educated; I want to hear the pros and cons of the issue being reported; what I don’t want to hear is the opinion of the reporter. I’ll make up my own mind. What do you want to hear? What’s your view?

Ronald Miller

mtss86@bellsouth.net