Media FRENZY

Have you noticed that the media just wears a story out? The most recent example is the murder of Annie Lee. I posted about it last week. My kids are in college, so the situation hit home. Thanks to good police work, they’ve arrested the guy. Until trial or a sudden change, there’s nothing else to report. But the media keeps milking it.



TV news reporters are expected to have fresh take on the stories 24/7. If you tell the news director, “nothing is going on,” that’s failure. Only after you and more importantly your competitors’ reporters have done a few pointless stories will news directors move on. This is just one of the reasons I love my DVR. Sick of hearing about Michael Jackson? Skip on to the next story.



Local radio news does much less of this. Because the whole newscast is only 5 minutes or less, they are ruthless about editing drivel. The exceptions, of course, are the news/talk windbags, like Rush Limbaugh.



I work for a group of 4 radio stations. The AM carries Rush. He’s an idiot. It doesn’t matter to me that he’s a conservative. On some topics, so am I … others not so much. What makes me angry is 1) he doesn’t do good research, 2) he’s nasty and 3) he beats a topic to death. The man is loud and dull. (Unlike rock and roll, which is loud and fun.) Even the Republican Party keeps its distance from him. Rush Limbaugh does NOT report news. It’s 3-hours of opinions based on an extremely narrow view and very few hard facts.



I believe in freedom of speech and freedom of the press … even for people I disagree with ... even for idiots … even for Rush. If everyone isn’t free, no one is. But I am sick of listening to him be hateful.