7 Comments so far

1. Jack Sutton January 16th, 2007 12:21 pm

   Your absolutely right on. I used to call the main stream media Corporate News, but now to be more accurate I refer to it as Corporate Tabloid News.

2. Joe M. Castorena` January 16th, 2007 4:33 pm

   Absolutely right on the money. It’s all about the money. That much is easily understood; what isn’t so easily understood is why we as consumers of news are so eagerly duped into these non-stories.

   I suppose it’s in our psyche, as Americans, to want the sweets rather than the nutritional, enticement instead of engagement, short and quick over the complications of involvment.

   All real news should involve stories as they pertain to our standing as citizens in this country. Issues like health care, war profiteering, war on drugs, congressional debates, supreme court trials and findings, transportation, global warming, and so on, with small personal stories such as the two brothers’ story as fillers.

   I stopped listening to local news as a twentysomething before I was able to pin point the reasons for my disinterest in news. I just knew that although sad, it really didn’t mean much in my life or any one elses’ outside of the immediate circle of the occurrance.

   Joe M. Castorena

3. Ben Smith January 16th, 2007 6:39 pm

   The media treats us like idiots. They *think* they know what we want but they are really just spoon-feeding us a refined-sugar version of reality–their version of reality.

   If they treated us more like adults we would respond like adults.

4. Kate January 17th, 2007 7:53 am

   What is all this whining about? Do you honestly think that TV news networks are trying to jam something down the public’s collective throat? Or….you better sit down for this…maybe they are actually giving the public what the public wants. You know, the free market at work.

   There is nothing wrong with covering a story “for ratings.” Ratings are feedback from your viewers that you are doing what they want.

   If you want to get worked up over the War on Terror or debate global warming, there are plenty of places to do that (like right here.)

   It’s a free country. Really it is.

5. The Eat Your Vegetables approach to news : Live Coverage from Memphis of The National Conference for Media Reform January 17th, 2007 9:49 am

   [...] Yesterday I wrote about my frustration with the media’s coverage of the “Miracle in Missouri” at the expense of stories that might be “more important and more significant.” One of the comments, from Joe M. Castorena, echoed exactly what Martin is arguing–that “we want the sweets rather than the nutritional, enticement instead of engagement, short and quick over the complications of involvement.” [...]

6. jane doe January 18th, 2007 5:47 pm

   I just want to know why the only information I can find about this story is people complaining. 2 children went missing, I’m sorry they had it on the news so often, maybe they though the more people knew, the more likley the 2 children could be found. And please do me a favor, if you have such a problem with the media, do something about it, don’t just sit at your computer and complain to people who also wont do anything about it. Just a thought. And let me know how it goes when any of your children goes missing and let me know how you feel about it, and maybe if the media covers it too much. You people make me loose faith in the world. Congrats.

7. Sylvia January 18th, 2007 7:26 pm

   Maybe if one of your daughter’s classmates went missing and your daughter couldn’t sleep at night because she was scared the same thing was going to happen to her, & was crying every night because they couldn’t find him & then suddenly a miracle happened and they found her friend and she was happy again! Maybe then you would reconsider that this isn’t huge news. Ben is a friend of my daughters & this absolutly rocked our entire household & I still had my child. You have no idea the impact this event had on so, so many families in the area, and all over the country. It will change many of us for the rest of our lives. It is big news, you should stop & count your blessings if you don’t think it is. (You should count your blessing either way.) I agree with Jane Doe. How could you be upset that they we covering this story?

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