Postman mentioned that the news is just another form of entertainment; that the so-called "news" they report is just to entertain the audience by using catchy opening and closing jingles, attractive news anchors and exciting footage.
Well, this reminded me of a South Park episode.
In "Quest For Ratings" (as the episode is called), the boys of South Park produce their own morning news show on the school's closed-circuit television station and are immediately caught up in an intense competition for ratings.
In the beginning of the episode, they simple told the news and then they were off. Their news consisted of things that happened around school, such as sports, the lunch menu and weather.
Well, afterwards, they find out that their ratings are terrible. Soon, they come up with a plan to make up exciting news to replace the boring stories. They changed the name of their news show from "Super School News" to "Sexy Action School News". They bring in dancing pandas for the kindergarten class, and pretty girls for the 6th graders. They reported gossip, such as about other students or about celebrities they claimed to have seen. And they even started drinking cough syrup such as to help them think up of other ways to get better ratings.
Only one of the boys, Jimmy, seemed to be unhappy with the change in the news.
He says: "This isn't the news, this is a t-t-travesty."
After watching this episode, and reading Amusing Ourselves to Death, I've lost quite a lot of respect for the news. I usually watch Fox 11 News at 10PM, but as I watched it this summer, nothing sounded serious. There was the occasional story about politics, and about trials and disasters, but those stories never last long.
Also, I noticed that Fox news always ends on a happy note. Never do they end with a story about killings, or politic or anything that would seem dark or serious. They end with gossip or stories about cat fashion shows or world records being broken and such.
If anyone could maybe recommend a better way of getting the news, I would like to hear it.
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4 comments:
The n-e-w-s-p-a-p-e-r-s of this country are dying. Be a throwback. Read the LA Times. Once in a while, buy the Sunday NY Times.
Also, I know we don't know each other well, and you don't owe me anything, but please just do me a favor and stop watching Fox News.
I have just noticed that too after reading Postman's book. Whenever I watch the news, I always see a person hidden under makeup and sometimes telling useless news. I think its funny how you watched South Park and noticed this topic.
I agree with Ms.Fletecher that newspaper is a great way to get whats really going on in the world. They give you the whole story, all the details they can divulge. I was speaking with my aunt about the news and i had mentioned to her i had read "Amusing Ourselves to Death". She said she had read it aswell and that there is no such thing as world news anymore. America really is going to the...(insert word here)... We do not care what is going on in the world, nor do we care.
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