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Dirty
Laundry (With Apologies to Don Henley)
December
1, 2001
by John Larson
Here I am at work and it turns out that some sort of turmoil
is going to undermine job security at the place I've been
employed at for almost two-and-a-half years. Once I heard
however that it was initially reported by MSNBC, I just turned
my nose away from the stench of bad journalism.
I knew that this would just be another one of those articles
the news throws around with little or no substance, especially
the financial sections that I have little or no use for anymore.
I would think that Madame Cleo would have a better record
predicting market conditions than any of these so-called financial
analysts.
Of course that isn't the only report made under false assumptions
or pretense. AP once reported that Bob Hope had died and the
announcement was even made on Capitol Hill of his passing
before it could be verified accurately.
I wasn't surprised in either case — the deterioration
of journalistic integrity is an inevitable side effect when
news organizations decide to take a decidedly partisan slant.
That's when people — readers, viewers, and listeners
alike — start to have the lie-detectors go off.
Or at least they should. News organizations in general have
taken it upon themselves to draw conclusions for people whenever
they have decided to bring anything worthwhile to the presses
or to the TV screen. But in these modern times people are
left with the growing burden of refuting said conclusions
just to get a balanced perspective-kind of like drawing their
own conclusions in reverse.
I haven't had the need to read the paper or turn on the TV
for national news in the last three years except for September
11th. I remembered why because the fires in New York were
quite literally still burning when pundits decided to irresponsibly
deride Clinton for what happened. I turned off the volume
and just let the pictures give me their thousand words instead.
I just rely on the Internet to see what's happening since
I know I'll be able to find an article relatively void of
headlines spun from the usual right-wing tapestry. More importantly
I have a voice to respond with.
The media organizations that rely on TV and print more and
more resemble mouthpieces since their so-called messages are
only brought in one way. And like it or not they will become
even more limited as the Internet continues to grow as a massive
communications forum as a result of the Grapevine Effect.
People more and more are growing annoyed with the coverage
that is provided these days and the lack thereof. To borrow
something from Don Henley, "The Bubble-Headed Beach Blonde"
who tells us about the plane crash with a gleam in her eye
just isn't to be trusted.
Clinton bashing, bashing of Greens and Dems, spreading rumors
about dead entertainers who aren't dead, and layoffs that
won't happen aren't really articles for news. They're just
articles of dirty laundry. Let's all just stop watching the
news and start reading it online since the news organizations
decided long ago that listening was totally bad for business.
And let's just stop indulging these people whenever they
decide we would like nothing more than to have them air out
someone's else's dirty laundry.
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