Just Shoot Me!

So that no one can say this article is politically motivated I thought I would tell you that I don't normally like to watch network news (on any station). I generally like to just jump on the ole' Toshiba laptop and surf the daily news for interesting articles through Google. It saves me from having to watch a bunch of Tampon and Cialis commercials over and over again. Not that there is anything wrong with those products, but since I am not a female and the Ole' Soldier still salutes on command they just simply seem to be a waste of time to me.

The other day my neighbor's wireless internet connection was giving me the "I wanna rip the satellite dish off of her roof and use it for something more productive like a boogie board" attitude, so I flipped on the antiquated boob-tube instead. I adjusted the loose cable wire in the back of it for 20 minutes or so; all the while cursing my other neighbor for running his lawnmower over the cable I had strung between our houses.

I finally got the electrical tape out and made a beehive around the cable connection on the back of my TV. I stepped away slowly, tiptoeing backwards away from the set; presumably thinking the few extra pounds I had put on lately would shake the house enough to stir up my beehive to the point of failing to do its assigned job. I lowered myself slowly onto the couch and started breathing again. Long deep breaths, at first, followed by rapid labor-type breathing til' I found the remote stuffed in the cushions.

I have to admit that I actually got a little excited. The whole experience was starting to feel kinda like pulling the old 69' Camaro out of the garage for the first time in a decade. If I had had a pair of leather gloves and goggles, I would have been wearing them right then.

I did a little countdown (out loud) in my best NASA Command Center voice. "3... 2... 1... Engage!" The excitement quickly faded as I pushed the POWER button on the $2.99 aftermarket universal remote my ex-girlfriend was so kind to buy me at the flea market last Christmas. The moment was lost. I shook my head until I stopped hearing James Lovell's voice in my head saying, "Houston, we've had a problem" (It took about six hard shakes and a final palm smack to the old noggin'). I would now have to actually get my keister back off of the couch and manually tune the television. I know I am not alone when I say this is one of the most irritating things we ever have to endure in our lives. But I had no choice. So with a few grumbles and verbal execrations I finally got the 1984 Zenith to wake up.


Since I wasn't about to stand there and flip through channels (God forbid), I was just relieved that Dr. Phil's face wasn't the first one I saw. Instead, it was NBC's Brian Williams. It would have to do. I settled back onto the sofa and watched the nightly news broadcast (in between the feminine product & erectile dysfunction ads of course).
Now Brian Williams has a list of credits and accomplishments a mile long in the media field. He has reported on such events as the devastating tsunami in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Pope John Paul II's funeral, the landmark Iraqi elections in Baghdad, the crash of TWA Flight 800, the death of John F. Kennedy, Jr.and many more breaking news stories across the globe - many of which he was the first news correspondent to arrive on scene and report.

However, something tonight bothered me. As Brian Williams was wrapping up his nightly Anchor report, he said, "It’s our job to make sense of it all.”

Really? I thought it was the job of journalists to present unbiased reports, and then allow me to make sense of it. Have we come to a time when we have to be spoon-fed what we are to think? Is the American public that intellectually helpless?

I understand commentators like Bill O’Reilly, Keith Olberman, Sean Hannity and Chris Matthews. It’s their job to present their own personal opinions. But when I watch the evening news, I don’t want to hear how they “make sense of it all.” To me this portrays arrogance and condescension.
“Making sense” involves interpretation, interpretation involves world-view, and I don’t want that. I want what the News is supposed to be reporting - "Just the facts!”
Let's leave the interpretation to the general public (where it belongs).

If I want to know what I’m supposed to think, I’ll call my parents.

THE VERDICT: News Anchors (reporters) aren't supposed to have an obvious political alliance. They are supposed to treat every subject and every person with impartiality. It's as simple as that. Leave the opinions at the door, report the news, have a Coke, smile and go home to the wife and kids.