News Invention

Every morning when I get up I turn on Channel 11. Maybe a year ago or so they changed the format of all their news programming. I still like the way they present the 10 o'clock news at night. But the morning show has steadily deteriorated.

The two hostesses of the morning show, Sukanya Krishnan and Frances Rivera are fine enough to look at but grueling to listen to. Far too often they display a flippant attitude that makes my skin crawl. It's an arrogant sense of anti-intellectual self righteousness that is an insult to the audience.

They often promote stories for the next segment by saying things like “you will be outraged when you see this.” I can't understand why they need to tell their audience how they are supposed to feel. That is not objective journalism. I suppose they are trying to entice their audience to stick around during the commercials. As far as I'm concerned, it's early morning and I am not in the mood to channel surf anyway. Just show me your “outrageous” story and let me decide how I want to feel.

That is just background for this entry however. The news invention happened yesterday. They had on a guest who they introduced as a body language expert. Her intention was to demonstrate that an appearance President Obama and former President Clinton made together might demonstrate some enmity between the two men. She showed how one patted the other on the back and then Clinton walked in front of the President to supposedly demonstrate his dominance. This is supposed to be evidence that maybe the two men aren't getting along as well as everyone thinks they are.

That is news invention. What are the facts? The fact is that no one except Bill Clinton and Barack Obama knows how these two men feel about each other. Anything else is just pure speculation. All Channel 11 is trying to do is stir the pot and keep the audience titillated with the possibility that the two famous “alpha” men are engaged in a private battle for dominance. Its completely unnecessary. I would have a much better feeling if Channel 11 presented a piece about how the two men are working together on the re-election campaign or maybe an economic plan. There is a decidedly negative undertone to the piece that assumes that all the audience wants is dirt so that they can have something to talk about all day at work.

Empower the audience with knowledge instead of degrading them with dirt.