For Crying Out Loud

OJ SIMPSON IS NOT NEWS.


Arrrr....

VT

I guess it's not surprising, but I've gotten very caught up in the coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings. I talked briefly before class about it, but many students hadn't even heard the news. Several didn't seem to be very impacted at all. I'm not sure how to take that. Maybe they'll deal with it later.

I am getting frustrated with so many people on tv saying that we as a society are programming violence into ourselves with our films, TV and video games. I have no evidence to support this, but it seems that, if anything, the people of the world now are more willing to not kill each other over their differences than in the past. What has changed is that we have more effective technology to carry out the violence that does exist. A small group of extremists can terrorize a global power. One man can destroy more life with a pair of guns than he could with a knife. The end result of this raging simply could not have been as horrific if he didn't have access to the pistols. I don't think effective gun control is possible or even practical in the US, at least in the foreseeable future, but I do hope this spurs debate leading into the election year.

That being said, it's naive to say that because one man can cause such damage that we as a society are inherently more violent. Movies and video games didn't give this man the idea to go out and kill people any more than watching Medea makes you want to kill your children or reading the bible makes you want to commit genocide. After investigation, we may discover that he played Grand Theft Auto, or watched 300 or Grindhouse. Many people will try to use this to push against these media. I hope they fail. I hope that we can see past such a simplistic argument, but I'm probably wrong.

To my friends and family, I'm not at Virginia Tech, but I'm ok, and I hope you are too.

Open Letter to CNN

Dear CNN,

For a very long time, I've watched and enjoyed you. I've been with you since the days when Bernie Shaw was Bernard. I used to keep the TV on in the background, tuned to CNN, so that I could keep track of what you were reporting.

I have to say, I can't do that anymore. I've tried. I would say that 'it's not you, it's me,' but let's be honest, it's you. You've steadily gotten worse and worse in your reporting and choice of stories to air, so that now it seems that I can tell what isn't newsworthy simply by flipping to CNN and seeing what you are talking about.

I've tried different ways of telling you what I feel has gone wrong, but you haven't changed your ways, you continue to deteriorate. However, I will try one more time to help out. I do this not out of a generous nature, not out of compassion or high minded ideals, but because I want a news channel, and I'm just not getting it.

Therefore, I present a few (by no means comprehensive) bullet points that might help you out.

• Popularity does not equal news.
  
• If you absolutely must, make a 15 or 30 minute side show about all the actors and their freakshow lives, but there is no reason whatsoever to announce what award they've won or who they're sleeping with as news. It's not. It's gossip and other channels do it already, better.
  
• Lay off the criminal cases
• Fire Nancy Grace. Do not hire a replacement
  
• 99% of all criminal cases are not news. The only real news-worthy cases are the ones that reinterpreting laws in ways that are important to understand
• If you must, announce verdicts in high-profile cases, but there is no need whatsoever to send out a team of reporters to find out what the man of the street thinks about Martha Stewart or Kobe Bryant and his wife. It's not news. It's barely even gossip.
• Stop chasing FOX
• Fire Glen Beck. Do not hire a replacement.
• You can't beat them at their game. They've got way more flag graphics and over-inflated blowhard egomaniacs.
• Start doing investigative reporting
• Follow the money. Remember that? It's not just from a good movie.
• Cover international news besides wars
• By all means cover wars - but if you are going to cover wars, cover the ones involving brown people, too.
• Let Americans know about the world around them. News is also education.
• An argument doesn't have two sides.
  
• sometimes there is no argument.
  
• When a person presents a specious argument call them on it. Ask hard questions. When someone starts spouting talking points, call them on it. Don't allow people to use your shows simply as a venue to publish their daily hot phrases. Don't worry about not getting invited to the next press conference
• Sometimes the argument has more than two sides. If everything is dumbed down to a right-wing and left-wing position, the original issue gets mangled beyond recognition.
• Don't be afraid of trying to explain complex things.
  
• Take your time and explain them as best as you can. Then do it again in a different way. There are important yet complex ideas that are worth the time.
  

Thank you for your time and attention, CNN. I will drop in occasionally to see how things are going, but I've got great hopes for my next big move. See, I'm moving somewhere where there's a bigger market, and if there are other options out there, you don't stand a chance.

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