News Gone Crazy...
I've been here in Kansas City for exactly a month and 2 weeks now. I dont know anyone here and there's nothing much to see here. So, the best way I kill time when I'm home doing nothin or during the weekends is by watching TV. Most of the time, I watched movies and sitcoms. Last couple of days I watched some news channels. After having watched them for 3-4 days I realized that the news channels here in the US are absolutely PATHETIC.
Essentially the news in the US comprises 3 main sections - political (read-Bashing Bush), crime and celebrities (read - paris hilton, lindsay lohan, et al).
The first section is quite self explanatory, anything to do with Bush is always criticized. Be it Iraq war, Immigration bill or anything else even remotely concerned with the government policies and economy.
The second section is blown out of proportion and even a simple murder or a car crash is given HUGE importance as if it involved the president of US himself. Sometime back there was this incident in Ohio wherein a pregnant lady was missing and her 2 year old son was found abandoned in her house. This case got FANTASTIC media attention. Each and every news channel FOX News, FOX Headline, NBC, CBS, KCMO-Local, CNN, CNN Headline and a host of other news channels played the same story AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN and AG....(voice fading into oblivion).
It was the same case when a WWE wrestler by the name Chris Benoit murdered his wife, his son and later hanged himself. The homicide was attributed to the unstable mental condition resulting from Steroid abuse. This one has been on the news for the last 3 weeks now. The extent of the media coverage is to say the least MASSIVE. They have their own forensic expert. They have their own lawyers. They have their own "prosecutors". They have their own doctors and their own psychologists.
Sometimes I get the feeling that the media channels do more investigation than the police department. Maybe its true and maybe the police "borrow" clues from the (dare I say) "speculative investigation" done by the media. The most ridiculous of all shows related to crime is a show hosted by Nancy Grace. Its a show wherein she ropes in the experts and the viewers can call-in and ask questions.
When her show was covering the pregnant mom disappearance and eventual death, I noticed that each caller called in and said "congratulations and love your show" and then asked the question. I also noticed that when the callers greeted Nancy Grace, the expression on her face indicated that she was grateful for the greeting and she had a smile. As soon as the question was asked and as soon as she was speculating on the crime, her facial expression changed to that of anger and when she was discussing on the 2-year-old child her facial expression changed to compassion. This goes to show that she is a tremendous actor and she has been "trained" to change her expressions. The expression changes definitely didnt seem natural to me. It one point I was so pissed off seeing her show that I felt like hitting her with my chappals.
The third section in the news is celebrity news. What are they wearing? Whom are they dating? Their misdemeanours, and so on and so forth. For example Paris Hilton's home-coming after her jail sentence featured among one of the top stories on all news channels. Then there was this celebrity style show which actually analyzed Paris Hilton's outfit when she walked out of jail. They discussed what was her hair like, her skirt, the colour of her skirt, blah, blah, blah. One of the news channels had hired a helicopter to follow the route of Paris Hilton's SUV and broadcasted Paris's drive from the jail in LA to her house on LIVE TV.
I watched the news just for 2 weeks and after that I just stopped watching them all together. The news here is full of crap and the news channels have gone beserk with their reporting. I'm typing this post whilst listening to songs from my playlist in Winamp and the strangest thing is that just as I'm about to end this post, the Green Day song AMERICAN IDIOT starts to play. Its a song that talks about the role of the media in the US. WOW...thats so IRONIC.
Essentially the news in the US comprises 3 main sections - political (read-Bashing Bush), crime and celebrities (read - paris hilton, lindsay lohan, et al).
The first section is quite self explanatory, anything to do with Bush is always criticized. Be it Iraq war, Immigration bill or anything else even remotely concerned with the government policies and economy.
The second section is blown out of proportion and even a simple murder or a car crash is given HUGE importance as if it involved the president of US himself. Sometime back there was this incident in Ohio wherein a pregnant lady was missing and her 2 year old son was found abandoned in her house. This case got FANTASTIC media attention. Each and every news channel FOX News, FOX Headline, NBC, CBS, KCMO-Local, CNN, CNN Headline and a host of other news channels played the same story AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN and AG....(voice fading into oblivion).
It was the same case when a WWE wrestler by the name Chris Benoit murdered his wife, his son and later hanged himself. The homicide was attributed to the unstable mental condition resulting from Steroid abuse. This one has been on the news for the last 3 weeks now. The extent of the media coverage is to say the least MASSIVE. They have their own forensic expert. They have their own lawyers. They have their own "prosecutors". They have their own doctors and their own psychologists.
Sometimes I get the feeling that the media channels do more investigation than the police department. Maybe its true and maybe the police "borrow" clues from the (dare I say) "speculative investigation" done by the media. The most ridiculous of all shows related to crime is a show hosted by Nancy Grace. Its a show wherein she ropes in the experts and the viewers can call-in and ask questions.
When her show was covering the pregnant mom disappearance and eventual death, I noticed that each caller called in and said "congratulations and love your show" and then asked the question. I also noticed that when the callers greeted Nancy Grace, the expression on her face indicated that she was grateful for the greeting and she had a smile. As soon as the question was asked and as soon as she was speculating on the crime, her facial expression changed to that of anger and when she was discussing on the 2-year-old child her facial expression changed to compassion. This goes to show that she is a tremendous actor and she has been "trained" to change her expressions. The expression changes definitely didnt seem natural to me. It one point I was so pissed off seeing her show that I felt like hitting her with my chappals.
The third section in the news is celebrity news. What are they wearing? Whom are they dating? Their misdemeanours, and so on and so forth. For example Paris Hilton's home-coming after her jail sentence featured among one of the top stories on all news channels. Then there was this celebrity style show which actually analyzed Paris Hilton's outfit when she walked out of jail. They discussed what was her hair like, her skirt, the colour of her skirt, blah, blah, blah. One of the news channels had hired a helicopter to follow the route of Paris Hilton's SUV and broadcasted Paris's drive from the jail in LA to her house on LIVE TV.
I watched the news just for 2 weeks and after that I just stopped watching them all together. The news here is full of crap and the news channels have gone beserk with their reporting. I'm typing this post whilst listening to songs from my playlist in Winamp and the strangest thing is that just as I'm about to end this post, the Green Day song AMERICAN IDIOT starts to play. Its a song that talks about the role of the media in the US. WOW...thats so IRONIC.
Labels: American Idiot, Bush, Celebrities, Green Day, Immigration, Iraq, Ironic., Nancy Grace, News channels, Paris Hilton, WWE
posted by Ram at 3:52 AM
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