In the News
In the 1950’s, when our TVs were black and white and the antennas that sat on the top of them were called rabbit ears, only men reported the news. They weren’t like anyone from Howdy Doody. They were different than Ralph Kramdon or Perry Mason. They wore suits and talked as if they were right in our living room. I was sure they could see me and they were saying something bad, and so I hid behind our couch.
Now I’m grown up and I know that reporters read from teleprompters. They have ratings to worry about and products to sell. They have theme songs that sound like ones from TV’s most dramatic series. Women sometimes report the news. One, in a skirt and high heels, recently sat on her desk with her legs crossed while she did it.
Even so, I click around all four channels, as if the news was a sport and the newscasters where referees. I watch to see how they’re calling the game. Is it too far to the right or to the left? Is it true? Is it fair? What? Diet sodas actually cause you to eat more? Hey, is anyone writing this down? What? Hormone Replacement Therapy increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes in women? My friends and I knew that 20 years ago.
I don’t have to watch every day. The news is like a soap opera. You can tune in and catch up pretty fast. Sometimes they repeat the same story day after day. I watch to not only to hear what the newscasters are saying, but to hear what they aren’t saying. They all seem to say the same thing, and they leave a lot out.
Everyone remembers the Iraqi women in headdresses holding up their purple thumbs after they voted. No one at the dinner party I went to last week believed me when I said that women under Saddam’s rule before the first Gulf war and the sanctions were modern, well-educated, and held positions of power.
There are good guys and bad guys, we’re told. There’s rhetoric that sounds good but I know it isn’t true. There are too many commercials. Drug pushers seem to have taken over the airwaves. What are they trying to sell us now? A little purple pill? Another war?
Sometimes when I’m watching the news I like to step back for a moment and pretend I’m a Martian who just landed on earth, and I ask myself ‘What would a Martian think of all this?’ Other times I remember something I heard during a recent presidential election. An African American man who had every reason to be discouraged about modern voting problems said, ‘But we have to vote. People died for the right to vote. If you don’t vote, you might just as well be saying to the people in power ‘do whatever you want with me.’
Post note: “In the news” was this week’s Sunday Scribblings writing prompt. More in the news scribblings can be found HERE.
April 7th, 2007 11:33 am
I am right there with you, sister. People ask me what I pray for sometimes. One of the items is that people stop encouraging this behavior….the newswatching.
Hey, for a happy piece of news, go to my non-scribblings posting today and check out the fish picture. It will crack you up if you think fish don’t have lips!
Smiles,
Nutster
April 7th, 2007 11:56 am
For the most part, I stopped listening to the news a couple of years ago upon realizing that I was consistently depressed and frightened afterward. I mostly get my news from the headlines at yahoo now. I occassionally read the local paper. I attempt to take everything with a grain of salt and know that the gray outweighs the black and white consistently.
Susan
April 7th, 2007 1:12 pm
your post brought up so much for me…
the first color tv; a zenith…
we werent allowed to watch howdy doody; or the disney club – something about communism…
loathing ralph kramdon…
the lies now brought to the tv by the advertisers; swaying the news…
I believe you about the women before the rule… there are others…
so so true about the importance of voting; even when the vote is stolen… thank goodness the next election will have so many new voters who are aware of what is going on in the world and want to have thier voice
April 7th, 2007 2:04 pm
I heard or read that is Hitler got in…….no one voted.
April 7th, 2007 4:57 pm
I feel exactly the same way! I stopped paying much attention to the news on TV, and I barely read the newspaper except for local news. I think if I am supposed to know about it – it will get to me somehow. The news is too depressing and too repetitive!
Michele says hi.
April 7th, 2007 5:19 pm
Thanks for writing this elegantly worded entry, Colleen. As a journalist, this resonates deeply with me. I went into this field for many reasons, not the least of which was my desire to cut through the rhetoric and deliver clarity to my audience.
A fair and balanced media is the cornerstone of a democratic society. And like democracy itself, a fair and balanced media is often a difficult to achieve state. Regardless, it’s fun to watch, and fun to be a part of.
April 7th, 2007 5:41 pm
I really like your point about the information missing from the news is as important as what they do talk about.
Thanks for visiting my blog and for the feedback.
April 7th, 2007 7:09 pm
great post Colleen. How cute that you hid behind your couch. I agree about the drug pushers on commercials. Like Chris Rock said, soon you start believing you Must have something wrong with you. I also like your take on what Martians would think of it all. Very well written and thought provoking. ( thanks for visiting me today :))
April 7th, 2007 7:21 pm
The world so desperately needs another Ed Murrow right now. Funny, how our posts were in sync without even meaning to be.
April 7th, 2007 8:29 pm
The apathy that some voters have must really boggle the Black American’s mind! He is so right on!
Yes, the news has changed a lot…we actually have quite a few women anchors etc. here. Your comparison of news to a Soap is so true! You get caught up in a minute.
April 7th, 2007 8:53 pm
…No one at the dinner party I went to last week believed me when I said that women under Saddam’s rule before the first Gulf war and the sanctions were modern, well-educated, and held positions of power…
Hi Colleen,
Thanks so much for dropping by my blog yesterday. I could relate to the above lines very well because I remembered a tv show once in Malaysia where they featured a pop concert going on in Iraq…and the women in the audience were fashionable and made-up to the hilt They clapped and danced. It could just as well have been a European concert. None wore veils. They looked exactly like the women you described.
April 7th, 2007 9:16 pm
Wow, you know it’s amazing how I’ve come to watch less and less TV the older I get. It’s seems so damned worthless now…unless I’m watching House of course.
April 8th, 2007 12:22 am
Unfortunately, these days folks can do what they want with you even if you vote – as was shown in our last Presidential election. Here via Michele!
April 8th, 2007 1:26 am
It reminds me of the B&W TVs when I was growing up. There was EC TV and Dyanora TV sets.
I wonder what it would be like to actually bring back on television the kind of stories that Charles Kuralt wrote in his books.
April 8th, 2007 1:46 am
When I lived in the States, I had dinner every night with Tom Brokaw. I think it was more for the company than the news. At least I felt that he, more than many others, reported more than just what he was told. And, he was a handsome dinner companion…
April 8th, 2007 6:24 am
The state of The News is really deeply depressing…! The days of the Edward R. Murrows, etc…seem to be gone. Even Keith Obermann, who I like a whole lot, and who does do these “commentary’s” that are hard hitting and brave in todays world…even HE devotes quite a hunk of time to “entertainment/gossip” type news…I guess he has to, to be Au Currant and get the ratings the way all the other news programs on TV seem to do….But, it is indicative of what is wrong with TV News today…The problems began when ALL the Networks began having there NEWS Division Run by ‘The Entertainment’ Division. News on TV has never been the same, and sad to say, I don’t think it ever will be…I so agree with your words and feelings on all this, Colleen…Discouraging and Depressing situation, isn’t it?
April 8th, 2007 8:56 am
I prefer newspapers any day. I watch TV only for classic movies. Or NGC.
April 8th, 2007 9:08 am
I Still watch the news, but with much more cynicism and with more concern about what they are leaving out and what they are NOT reporting.
April 8th, 2007 12:36 pm
Local news is a little better than the national news in depth, but not by much sometimes. Things go on that never get reported but certainly should be. I try to remind myself that the news people are human, which I know because I’m one of those news writers myself. You can only do so much and news never stops.
My biggest complaint is the lack of input from the citizenry. When I’m the only person at a town council meeting, I think the citizens have only themselves to blame if things happen that should not. This goes for all levels of government. The media is supposed to be a watchdog, but the citizens should be screaming collectively and loudly for not just better media but also better government.
April 8th, 2007 1:47 pm
Fun photo, great post, especially thoughtful observations. I especially liked the idea of “What would a Martian think?” Gives some fresh perspective.
April 8th, 2007 2:40 pm
with a young child, there is NO way i’d have the news on. just within a minute of watching, there is always something violent or fear-evoking.
i catch my headlines on the internet, too.
April 8th, 2007 4:14 pm
Soap Opera-so true.
April 9th, 2007 9:41 am
Right On!
November 5th, 2014 7:57 pm
[…] 10. In the 1950’s, when our TVs were black and white and the antennas that sat on the top of them were called rabbit ears, only men reported the news. They weren’t like anyone from Howdy Doody. They were different than Ralph Kramdon or Perry Mason. They wore suits and talked as if they were right in our living room. I was sure they could see me and they were saying something bad, and so I hid behind our couch. More from a 2007 blog post titled In the News HERE. […]