[Grovenet] Hosstyle Disdain for the NEWS MEDIA

Fri Apr 20 15:11:15 PDT 2007

No disagreement with anything here; the choir is all singing the same tune,
including me. 

I wasn't aware of NBC's broadcast because the LAST thing I cared about doing
was listening/watching an "analysis" of the event. There is such a thing as
"too much information". 

I have a hard time saying it's the responsibility of the news media though.
They are no longer there to report "news"; they're an entertainment service.
Since TV news was first allowed by the FCC to have commercial sponsors in
the 1960's, it's  been an entertainment business. Before then, the "news"
was part of the "public servicing" programming mandated by the FCC that
every station had to provide and, as such, could not run commercials or have
sponsors. The reporting of news had a lot to do with corporate pride and
reputation, but it had no effect on the corporate profit.  

Today the job of commercial news media is to attract through any legal means
the most viewers possible, and they've found that the most obscene
exaggerations and shocking details attracts viewers. Back when newspaper
were "king" we called it "yellow journalism". Most of the time the shocking
headlines of "news" on the tube is simply laughable. Nonetheless, when they
have the chance to inject some prurient interest in pain and mayhem, they
jump at the chance. That's their job. 

I used to get my news from the print media, now I get it from the internet
where I can scan stories and pick out the information I find relevant from
the merely salacious and titillating. It's darn hard to do that on TV. 

Of course those news editors know that any disaster has suggestions that it
was going to happen in advance, and only the most obscene of the bunch would
suggest 'warnings' should have been noted and prevented it, except to excite
the audience. It is true that the experts should be looking at the events
leading up to the killer's final breakdown to see if they can develop
reasonable criteria to note such things in advance, but that does not mean
this was predictable. 

I shudder to think of what would have happened if the poetry teacher had
gotten the kit ejected from school because she was "uncomfortable" with his
writings and the press had picked up on that bit of news! The school would
have been sued from here to Kingdom Come for violating his Constitutional
rights. 

I hadn't heard about Herb Morrison, who broke down while reporting the
Hindenburg disaster, losing his job but he did the whole aviation industry a
terrible disservice. That's an excellent example of how a minor, but
visually spectacular, event is transformed by an unknowing public into a
major issue. Most of the 'humanity' survived, several walking away after it
touched down! There were 97 people aboard: 22 crew members died - mostly
those actually up among the gas bags handling mooring lines - and 13
passengers were killed. A total of 35. Most train wrecks killed more, but
they had become commonplace. This was "special". 

Shoot, a lot of people today still think the Hindenburg was on her maiden
voyage - like the Titanic - rather than having for years made the Atlantic
crossings between North America, South America and Europe with a perfect
safety record. A few years ago when researching a piece on airline safety I
was amused to note that it was in the 1970's, I believe, before airplanes
achieved the safety record the hydrogen-filled dirigible fleet had achieved,
even after the Hindenburg crashed!

That's why I'm skeptical whenever someone tries to get me to demand a
certain action in response to a news event. Even if the reporting is totally
accurate, it's not clear that I have the information or the background to
make the best decision about what to do. There's nothing I've seen to
suggest the "public opinion" should be acted upon - except by elected
officials who want to keep their jobs <G>. But that doesn't mean the public
is right. 

Ron D'Eau Claire 

-----Original Message-----
From: grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com [mailto:grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com] On
Behalf Of Steele, Mike
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 12:35 PM
To: Forest Grove local interests list
Subject: Re: [Grovenet] Hosstyle Disdain for the NEWS MEDIA

Hoss...good points here.  In a former life, I used to teach journalism; the
texts always had a chapter or more on ethics.  One of the classical
"problems" was the matter of the reporter/photographer who happens upon a
train wreck, with injured people everywhere, many still in the train cars,
with fire threatening to break out.  Notice...not electronic media.  Anyway,
what does the good reporter do?  Help the people?  Save the ones threatened
by fire?  Or start writing the story or take the pictures?

We should never, ever forget that newspapers, magazines, and electronic
media _all_ exist primarily to sell advertising space or guarantee
advertisers market share.  The actual news is secondary to the bottom line.
Whatever enhances the bottom line will be deemed newsworthy.

The poor chap who was doing the radio broadcast of the landing of the
Hindenburg in 1937, who broke down and started sobbing as the airship
disintegrated, crying out, "Oh, the humanity!"--was fired the next day.

--Mike

-----Original Message-----
From: grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com [mailto:grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com] On
Behalf Of Allen Warren
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 12:19 PM
To: Forest Grove local interests list
Subject: Re: [Grovenet] Hosstyle Disdain for the NEWS MEDIA

Right, wrong or otherwise, the News Media is constantly looking to have
"exclusive" information, "scooping" the competition to be the first and if
possible, the ONLY source of information.  When the package arrived on NBC's
doorstep I can only guess the euphoria racing through the company as they
realized what an incredible story they and ONLY they had.  Their collective
hands must have been shaking from the pure adrenalin rush.  But I wonder if
any one individual thought, "Is there a down-side to airing any or all of
the video?"

In a similar vein of the media wanting to get "exclusive" information, I
read an article in this week's edition of Sports Illustrated I received
yesterday about the Rutgers women's basketball team and how they were being
followed and hounded everywhere they went during the days between Don Imus'
derogatory comments and the press conference held by the coach and team
after meeting with Imus.  The Rutgers coach made it a point at the beginning
of the press conference to chastise the media by asking (paraphrasing),
"Where were all of you when the team was doing good things on the court?"

Just as in any occupation or industry, there is an extreme.  I believe we're
seeing an extreme in the News Media, where ratings and money appear to be
trampling caution and responsibility.

I wonder what someone like Walter Conkrite thinks about all this?

Allen Warren

----- Original Message ----
From: "Steele, Mike" <steelem at pacificu.edu>
To: Forest Grove local interests list <grovenet at rdrop.com>
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 11:48:24 AM
Subject: Re: [Grovenet] Hosstyle Disdain for the NEWS MEDIA

Hoss...I share some of your concerns.  The first thing that struck me when
NBC aired snippets of the killer's press kit was that this will now be
everywhere...on all the Internet sites where kids hang out, on the morbid
sites, anywhere...world wide.  It will metastasize infinitely. Is this
desirable?  I think not.  Did the NBC personnel involved consider that...or
did ratings drive their decision?  Their ratings were sky high that
night...which also says something--I don't know what--about the viewing
public.

--Mike

-----Original Message-----
From: grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com [mailto:grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com] On
Behalf Of Alan L Domenghini
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 11:43 AM
To: GroveNet at rdrop.com
Subject: [Grovenet] Hosstyle Disdain for the NEWS MEDIA

If what I'm about to say offends anyone, which includes anyone from the
media, then I shall relay on the first amendment of The Constitution of
the United States.         

In light of Va. Tech Disaster
An article in this mornings Oregonian says "Experts see Cho as textbook
killer", ad the inset says "Campuses hit by rash of threats, scares" It has
been my experience over the years both in Law Enforcement, and now in
Private Life that shortly after these types of articles air, all of the nut
case start doing the same thing.  Look at what happened shortly after
Columbine High School, and Springfield, Or. I am wondering just how prepared
the schools in our area are if this should happen.  I think what worries me
more is that some RedNeck will grab a gun and go to wherever this might
happen, and make things worse. I saw this happen once while dressed in blue
in my home town, but this is another tale for another time.

~alan~ as "Mr Bliss" always states at the end of his posts "Speaking Only
For Myself~ Hoss By the Bye ... I expect some sart butt will say "Hoss your
life ain't never been private"

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