When did hard "news" become just plain old "gossip"????
Here we are in 2007, and I feel like I am living in a media nightmare....
Anna Nicole Smith's death is a true tragedy. But so is every death of every person in Iraq. So is the death of any and every person, anywhere in the world, period....
There is no such thing as 'hard news' anymore. It's all entertianment gossip.....it has nothing to do with anything but peeking into people's underwear drawer. "Hard News" has become horrible crappy salacious stupidity, not...I repeat, NOT News.Just how many hours is/are the media going to devote to this truly awful awful awful awful story, that gets worse by the minute? This is not 'NEWS'....this is plain old trash. (Edward R. Murrow is turning over in his grave three times over, and then, once again!!!)Parenthically: I remember when "Entertainment Tonight" began, what, twenty-twenty-five years ago...I thought....Surely there isn't enough Entertainment news to fill a whole hour every night for five nights a week??HA!
Well, now, there are 35 or more of these so called "Entertainment" news/gossip type TV shows, and ALL of them are, plain and simple---Gossip Shows and most of what they "report" is ....SPECULATION, LIES, and CONJECTURE, because that is what "sells"....
OY OY OY OY OY!!!...and this "gossip" mentality has moved into what were 'hard news' shows, on NEWS Channels---CNN, MCNBC, CNBC, FOX NEWS (OY, to the Max..) and all the other channels that broadcast this crap...and call it "news".
Shame on you NBC, CBS, ABC, and all the other Networks---Cable and Otherwise. SHAME SHAME SHAME on you.SHAME!
And now, we have Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband saying that maybe HE could be the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby...! HELP ME, PLEASE.Turn Off Your Televisions.Turn Off Your Radios.
Hug Your Significant Other.
Hug Your Children.
Hug Your Dear Pets.
Love Your Flowers.
Help Us Oh Lord!
Rant, Not--Quite--Over.A Question.
What is wrong with the picture that I just painted here on my blog with the above words......?
The Answer?
EVERYTHING.
Here's my further question? Is this stuff about Anna Nicole Smith really what is important?
Because if it is, I mean if it truly is what is important, than I am ready to shuffle off this mortal coil, right now.
More To Come, I Hope......
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We need nothing but the announcement of her death! But TV/radio/magazines/etc. will beat the horse, even though it is already dead. Unfortunately, there are people who care about such things and the networks will kowtow to them. It is a shame - and I am already turning off the TV when they start talking about her.
Re your comment: it is a template that blogger had at first, but it has been tweaked and is part of the new blogger's drop and drag templates. I was just ready for some new colors and title.- Saturday, February 10, 2007 at 5:10:00 AM PST
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The same technology that brings us the internet, fuels the rise of "opinion" news and all the "news" stations, and radio and newspapers follow along. The really, really frightening part of this is that NEWSPAPER REPORTS are being used in our courts as EVIDENCE, as if they were the gospel truth, when in face they are nothing more than the writer's OPINION.
You are right... there is NO SUCH THING as TRUE JOURNALISM with an unbiased eye. It is all conjecture, sensationalism, editorials and more often than not... flat out lies.- Saturday, February 10, 2007 at 7:17:00 AM PST
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IMPRESSIVE rant Naomi.... [looks impressed]
Things haven't got *that* bad over here yet. Most of the 'entertainment' shows shown here are American imports. The rest are.. well, home-grown trash! At least we still have proper News programming though! [Phew].- Saturday, February 10, 2007 at 7:32:00 AM PST
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It is always about "what sells" and "how much money they can make on it"...
Instead of 2 hours of straight "news" it could probably be done in 1/2 hour.. but then that would leave time for .. oh.. maybe a good movie? Oh the shame on that! Forbid the news should be just that.. the news!
There will always be "gossip shows", but i think it's really degrading that the news shows have more gossip then news anymore.- Saturday, February 10, 2007 at 7:43:00 AM PST
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It is not important it is just people being nosey and invasive. It s people woh would rather belive in the make believe than face up to the reality of thier own lives... it is escapism as the cost of those that put themselves out there
- Saturday, February 10, 2007 at 8:58:00 AM PST
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you have every reason to scream
the news is fluff
and mostly promotion for their other shows. Only football is news ( kidding) but at least there is a story there.
Blow up your TV ( john denver)- Saturday, February 10, 2007 at 9:55:00 AM PST
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See? THIS is why I quit watching television! It's not just the reality shows. It's not just the foul language. It's not just the smut. It's the WHOLE FRIKKIN' PICTURE! I don't watch the news. I real SELECTED stories from the newspaper. And I have quit looking at Comcast/Yahoo/CNN websites too -- because they choose to put the "sensational" stories first before the REAL news too! And EVEN the Washington Post website has started to too! It drives me nuts! If that's all the news you can think to share with me, I have no need to know it and so I don't! But the more people INHALE tabloids, and SCARF down Entertainment tonight, and TUNE IN to all the garbage that's being broadcast -- the more the media will slide to that arena! They are a business - they are in the business to SELL information ... one way or another. And if the PEOPLE are going to BUY the sensational MORE than they buy the real news... then that's what is going to be offered up! THE PEOPLE have to stop. But they don't.
- Saturday, February 10, 2007 at 10:34:00 AM PST
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had this to say:
Ahh, now this is a rant that's worth my time! And I agree with you. E-v-e-r-y l-e-t-t-e-r, every-word. People make such a big deal out of things like this, then ignore what really matters.
And here I am, a Journalism major. *sighs*- Saturday, February 10, 2007 at 11:30:00 AM PST
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had this to say:
Oh dear, I'm so horrible. I've forgotten to mention that the Queer Chef pimped me here, so...
The Queer Chef pimped me here! :D- Saturday, February 10, 2007 at 11:32:00 AM PST
- had this to say:
It isn't important, Naomi, at least not in the sense that real news is important. In other words, a woman's passing is tragic for her family. But it should not touch off a global media feeding frenzy.
I, too, am sick to my stomach at how the concept of "news" has been perverted beyond everything I was raised to believe. You're right: Mr. Murrow would indeed be spinning in his grave. We've absolutely lost our way, and I can't for the life of me explain why this is the case.
Still, I'll continue to hold onto whatever I hold dear. Just because Mary Hart furrows her brow and pretends that all of this matters doesn't mean I have to buy her crap.- Saturday, February 10, 2007 at 12:27:00 PM PST
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It only gets worse Naomi. I have heard this morning that people are reporting that Anna Nicole froze her husbands sperm and that her dead husband may be the baby's father! It's obviously not enough for people to make a fool of you (although Anna did help that process) in life. Even Death is not sacred anymore.
- Saturday, February 10, 2007 at 2:26:00 PM PST
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had this to say:
I quit qatching almost all TV long ago except for a good movie but not often because all the movie channels show the same films over and over again. I now have a collection of great old and new VHS & DVD films that I enjoy at my discretion without the everlasting annoyance of commercials. As for Entertainment Tonight, it's far from being entertainment. If Anna Nicole Smith's life and death is entertainment news, it's truly a travesty and comes under the heading of "things we don't need to know". Enough already!
- Saturday, February 10, 2007 at 2:54:00 PM PST
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DITTO. EVERYTHING you said.
And I remember Entertainment Tonight coming on too, and thinking exactly the same thing: how will they fill an hour with this stuff???
I went to see the movie 'Blood Diamonds' last night (I will be putting a post up on it shortly) - THIS IS NEWS!! People dying so we can wear BLING BLING. I used to work for the Red Cross and you would not believe what happens in the world every day (or maybe you would) and yet the "news" (and I use the term oh so loosely) is full of one sensationalist piece of crap after another.
I so wholeheartedly agree with what you have written here.
This is media gone mad. The line between news and gossip has become so blurry you can't even tell it's there anymore.- Saturday, February 10, 2007 at 4:23:00 PM PST
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You said it Sister! I am trying to avoid all news of the sad tragedy. The vultures are coming out of the word work. It does go to show one thing, however: Even several hundred million dollars does not a happy person make.
Michele sent me this time,
Mike- Saturday, February 10, 2007 at 5:54:00 PM PST
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I totally agree, but you're going a TAD bit overboard. NPR is a great news source, and so is PBS, and they didn't spend hours speculating about Anna Nicole. The newspapers, at least here, barely covered it at all.
But in general I totally concur. I hate the whold unbalanced media direction of sensationalism, star worship, and seeking out only the worst in celebrity news. I honestly don't care about celebs, but until there is a backlash at the cash register, it's not going to change. Celeb news is HUGE money. HUGE.
So I say, don't buy the magazines, don't watch the entertainment shows, and complain when your local news outlets cover these stories over actual news events. Complain in writing. Complain on the phone. Complain complain complain. Eventually it will stop.
But complaining on blogs isn't enough. It's a movement of refusal that will make this crap disappear.- Saturday, February 10, 2007 at 8:39:00 PM PST
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Hey Lady...I totally agree with every word you wrote. Her death, while tragic is NOT 'news'. It's entertanment gossip, tabloid fodder. I think it's just sickening that men are creeping out of the woodwork, claiming parental rights, motivated no doubt by the millions that baby could inherit. What happened to real news?
Hope you're having a good weekend...*wave* here from Michele!- Saturday, February 10, 2007 at 11:31:00 PM PST
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Dear Naomi, you've said a mouthful. I agree with you completely.
Eventually, I will get used to the new Blogger. Right now, I am still confused.- Sunday, February 11, 2007 at 12:50:00 AM PST
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I think Anna will dominate the conspiracy stories for some time.
Michele sent me here.- Sunday, February 11, 2007 at 3:19:00 AM PST
- had this to say:
Very well said or should I she shouted Noami! Commercial interest is running the world and I hate it too. I'm so agree with you: let's focus on the most important things in life, friends and family and reading this great reminder of yours make me count my blessings!
- Sunday, February 11, 2007 at 4:09:00 AM PST
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You're preaching to the converted. Here in Britain the news has been full of the McCartney split for months......and months......
The day that Anna Nicole Smith's untimely, but not completely unexpected, death over-rode tragic deaths in Iraq, murders, political mayhem and everything else in this big old world is a sad day indeed.
Hey my dear :-)
cq- Sunday, February 11, 2007 at 5:31:00 AM PST
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Dear Naomi, I read your post, but I can't say nothing about this media, because I did not see those Channels.
Have a lovely Sunday!- Sunday, February 11, 2007 at 5:32:00 AM PST
- had this to say:
I hate when they tag a really important issue and then spend the next 27 minutes covering drival and then tag the important issue for the next segment yet again.
It's gotten to where I don't watch news, I watch Home and Garden, Food TV, History Channel, but definatley not the news.- Sunday, February 11, 2007 at 8:23:00 AM PST
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I don't even know who Smith is but I have read about her on a few blogs. I don't watch ANY television. I haven't for about six years. The only radio I listen to is NPR. I haven't heard anything about her there. I found all television so full of sensationalism and hype many years ago and gave it up. I don't miss it. I am very selective about what I watch. I read and watch some news on the computer but I pick what I am watching, reading, or listening to.
I sure miss the old days sometimes.
When news was news. It hasn't been like that for years. It was bad when I tuned out and off and that was a long time ago.
Have a wonderful day!
*^_^
(=':'=) hugs
(")_ (")Š from
the Cool Raggedy one- Sunday, February 11, 2007 at 11:19:00 AM PST
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I dunno if my last comment went or not?
- Sunday, February 11, 2007 at 11:23:00 AM PST
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had this to say:
Okay, what I said and blogger lost was.
If only the media would spend as much attention on each soilders death over in Iraq. They have children too, they have husband and wives, parents. Each one when losted touches so many others.
We have memorialized all of those from 9/11,which is wonderful. Yet their are still people giving their lives, for 9/11.
If the media, showed nightly these men and women, their families, their children. This war would be over in a heartbeat.
Instead the media, talks "numbers" of losses. Giving each life a "number". Which takes away the actual loss of that life. They are not numbers, they were living human beings. Who's deaths are effecting whole families, families larger than Anna Nicoles.
Do they make celebrities numbers? No, they show their children, their friends crying. Showing what a tragedy it is. Do they show that on every soilder? No. No, just the numbers.
From Mysteriouslady, I cannot get blogger to let me post! I have no clue why?????- Sunday, February 11, 2007 at 12:54:00 PM PST
- had this to say:
Nice rant :)
The Anna Nicole story keeps getting weirder and weirder!- Sunday, February 11, 2007 at 3:52:00 PM PST
- had this to say:
Naomi, I found out the name of the sculptor of the pencil things - and more. Come back to the post and click on the link.
- Sunday, February 11, 2007 at 4:17:00 PM PST
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had this to say:
Amen Naomi....I don't know how anyone could be surprised about her outcome but what is worse is all the attention she gets. You are so right in what has become important to us.....what a pathetic people we are if Anna Nichole is so much more important than those dying in Iraq...or our policmen or firemen or heroes here. Our media is just a joke anymore. They'd rather entertain than inform and sadly we allow it.
- Sunday, February 11, 2007 at 7:22:00 PM PST
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Wow, you are a damn good ranter.
I'm in total agreeance with you.- Sunday, February 11, 2007 at 7:48:00 PM PST
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had this to say:
You are clearly mad as hell. You are clearly not going to take it anymore.~,:^)
- Sunday, February 11, 2007 at 8:07:00 PM PST
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I'm sure there's a celebrity somewhere who's happy the spotlight is off them for just a moment.
;)- Sunday, February 11, 2007 at 11:57:00 PM PST
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You have just written the understatement of the year! Can't you please be a bit more direct and emphatic? ;-) That line out of "Network" surely is applicable.
I've been fed up with this blurring of the line between what constitutes news and what is entertainment for more years than I can remember. I guess as long as people read and watch it there will be people wanting to make money pushing it.
And don't get me started on how meaningless being a "celebrity" has become -- talk about Warhol's 15 mins. of fame observation.
Certainly, I'm sorry Smith died so young whatever the circumstances. Her infant daughter truly is a tragic figure in all this.- Monday, February 12, 2007 at 1:05:00 AM PST
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You are so right.... !!!!
- Monday, February 12, 2007 at 5:30:00 AM PST
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had this to say:
The more things change, the more everything old is new again. In the early years of the 20th century, when newsboys cried "EXTRA", trashy sensationalism ran rampant. This was the heyday of Hearst, Mc Cormack and dozens of "me-too" tabloids with reporters straight out of "The Front Page" ("Chicago" for you young whipper-snappers)
Then radio hit, and suddenly, the papers became paragons of journalistic virtue--or claimed to be. Schools of journalism led their students to believe they could write anything they wanted, when, in truth, the hand that writes the paycheck rules the world. This was the era in which we grew up.
I actually wanted to be Brenda Starr until Jane Reno lol'd at my shock when she said, "Journalist my ars! She's being kept by the mystery man, who controls the board of directors!"
My career started on the Miami Daily News, shifted to radio, then to tv. When "if it bleeds, it leads" became the prevailing ethic, I resigned in a huff, "caught the last train for the coast", and found a place in the world of tv commercials and low budget features.
The public is fickle. The pendulum will swing back the other way. So, Naomi (and all you other thinking bloggers), when "the lies" come on (incidentally,junk news of a different genre, but just as bad, can be found on PBS and NPR), grab the remote and switch over to Classic Arts Showcase. In a half hour or less, you'll be asking, "Anna-Nick who?" who cares!- Monday, February 12, 2007 at 6:31:00 AM PST
- had this to say:
Amen to that. The problem is that the job of newspapers is no longer to report the news but to sell newspapers and the job of television networks is to ensure that their news shows get higher viewing figures then the other shows - again not to report hard news unless that is what would get the figured or sell the newspapers. Unfortunately, they have discovered that celebrity gossip is what sells to the majority of people. It is sad. The worse thing is that some people still think they can beleive the news and I happen to know they bend the truth, lie and misreport as a fact!
- Monday, February 12, 2007 at 9:20:00 AM PST
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I agree with both you and Kenju.
And it's so pervasive! I hate it too, Naomi. It's teaching some peculiar and twisted values to the next generation,that's for sure.
We never watch the news anymore. Just The Daily Show.
I completely feel and share your ire!
~S- Monday, February 12, 2007 at 1:31:00 PM PST
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had this to say:
Bob-kat, selling papers and advertising has ALWAYS been top priority for the media. They created the image of the crusading journalist to sell papers. Right now, society is in lcd mode (and I don't mean liquid crystal display), so they dish up the trash that sells. It's a BUSINESS, not a religious calling.
- Monday, February 12, 2007 at 7:05:00 PM PST
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I know Naomi! It's just out of control and so stupid. This was a sad thing but they need to let it rest and move on. Good post Naomi. Now go ahead and scream!!! I'll join you!! :) This is one reason I don't watch very much TV. It just makes me mad and sad and not worth it. TV isn't what it used to be by any means. That's very sad too.
- Tuesday, February 13, 2007 at 8:12:00 AM PST
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had this to say:
I like what you said and I agree.
Actually my post about Anna Nicole was more directed at BLOGGERS who will vilify her, as if they KNEW her, not just the media.
But it IS sad that people can pay this much attention to someone's life and death and not bat an eye when how many? soldiers get killed in Iraq every day. Why don't they direct their attention and outrage to something like that?- Tuesday, February 13, 2007 at 9:52:00 AM PST
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had this to say:
Bravo to you, Naomi, for addressing a problem that's been festering for quite a few years now.
Ditto on everything you said! I agree....sad that somebody died at age 39 and left a small baby. Okay. Let's move on and concentrate on NEWS! Because that sure wasn't!
I said the same thing when I heard all the hoopla surrounding her death. Years ago we would have read about it in Photoplay or numerous other movie/tv magazines I used to buy. But it certainly would NOT have monopolized our news programs.
Society is getting worse...certainly not better.- Tuesday, February 13, 2007 at 4:24:00 PM PST
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You're so right, Naomi. I've had to avoid even CNN and Headline News for the past few days due to the pablum on there about Smith's death. And tragedy isn't exactly how I'd describe the death but that's another thing. :-)
- Wednesday, February 14, 2007 at 5:18:00 PM PST
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hahahaaa absolutely!
wooohoo. never seen you REALLy cross before.
love the picture too.
:)- Sunday, February 18, 2007 at 1:53:00 AM PST
x4
