I don’t know what I hate more; what happened today in Boston or the way it is reported by the news. I have so little respect for the modern day media outlets. 24 hour news cycles require repetition and an unending parade of opinions and uneducated guesses – they have to fill that time after all, and the sponsors want to see higher ratings so they can reach more people. Advertised based ‘news’ is the worst idea in modern history. 
Now, on the flipside, some of the bravest people on earth at the camera people who work as journalists. These are the folks who run TOWARDS danger, and give the rest of the world a view of what happens. The camera doesn’t lie, it doesn’t have a political point of view, and the lens shares what it sees to anyone who have eyes. I am too much of a coward to do what those people do.
If only journalistic integrity existed today. Trying to find witnesses to talk to a camera, to get ‘experts’ to give opinions when there aren’t enough facts, and basically rile people up on half witted theories – we live in a new era of yellow journalism.
I hate MSNBC just as much as FOX NEWS. I detest partisan news. It’s destroyed journalistic integrity. The need to make money and get eyeballs to pay attention has warped everything where half truths, rumors, and unsubstantiated opinions are given more than equal time as just reporting FACTS. Verifying stories has gone to the wayside to shock and awe.
The latest internet meme that is going around a lot is a quote from Fred “Mister” Rogers. He said when he saw scary things in the news, his mother would tell him to look for the helpers – You will always find people who are helping.
Isn’t it odd that humanity is always at its best when things are at their worst?
I was there in Manhattan on September 11th, 2001. My point of view on that was not as it was for everyone else watching it on TV. I don’t know who, what, or why today happened. I only know that it is nothing short of a tragedy and whoever commit such acts are inhuman.
I have to continue to work. In this strange fast paced world we live in, people have to learn to be patient in finding out what actually happened. I remind students that in these situations, we do NOT have all the evidence and not everything is clear, no matter how well delivered inaccuracies are spoken on TV…
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