Why I Don't Watch the "News"

I often feel bad that I don't watch the news. Sometimes people will ask me if I've heard about some random event but I usually don't know what is going on outside of my world until it's on facebook or twitter. I know I should be ashamed of myself as an EBP but I'm not. Too much random stuff passes for news and when something makes the news it's on every show. Yesterday's "balloon boy" incident is a prime example of why news isn't exactly news.

During a study break, I saw comments about the story on fb and twitter. I finally turned my TV to CNN and MSNBC to see what was going on. While they were searching for the boy, they spoke to people about the family, including the "psychic" wife with whom they swapped. However, the screen read "BREAKING NEWS" even though there was nothing new to report. They were just filling time and airwaves keeping the country on pins and needles about the fate of this young man. A collective sigh of relief was breathed when the boy was found. I thought "ok they found him end of story." Not so much. The family has appeared on a number of shows in the last 24 hours and has been mentioned in every news broadcast since. Why can't they just go away? Why do we need to know the details of the family and what it was like for them to look for Falcon? Frankly, I don't care. I want them to go back to normal and I don't want to see them on TV. I don't know if it was a prank or publicity stunt but if the "news" didn't make people instant celebrities over something this random, it wouldn't even be an issue.

When I turn on the news I want to see actual news for everything else I'll read a blog.

News is what somebody somewhere wants to suppress; all the rest is advertising.
~ Lord Northcliffe

For most folks, no news is good news; for the press, good news is not news.
~ Gloria Borger