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Every news outlet is in the business to make money. First and foremost is the requirement to stay financially viable, else they shutter their business like any other business who fails to earn enough dough.
Some news outlets are shameless promoters of scandals and looking for the scintillating news and strong pounding words to set their story up for the most reads…and then their advertising rates elevate…so they make more money.
Other news outlets pay millions of dollars for that “trusted source”, a household name in some parts of the country. Regardless of what they report they are still in the business of making money so that raises can be given.
Headlines cry out the substance of the story by using inciteful words to draw in the reader who is so inclined, but the same headline also shuns those with a different point of view.
Facts are hard to verify, so let’s report what we think! What do our corporate owners believe? Let’s “lean in” their direction so they will keep our doors open. Who’s our fanbase? Let’s market the stories to their purchasing power.
Okay. I’m jaded with the news cycle these days. The keywords in the headlines are part of it, the constant slamming of individuals, and the fear and hate that is spread through all the mediums. Forget fake news. It’s hateful news. And it’s all designed to polarize the nation into one camp or another. Left vs right. One party against the other party. Race. Culture. 1% against all others. City, suburban and rural. One reporter even says it is setting the nation up for War! Civil War!
It matters not where you are, there is news to fit your personality! You do not even have to look for it. It finds you! Click To TweetAnd if you are not into the news cycles of the producers of the information, simply turn to your Social Media and let them invite you to believe their view of the story. Town Criers they are! Soap Box Speakers! Lousey with facts, but great on emotion and tragedy and “my view is the right view!”
In the older times of our nation, and the world, news came from travelers bringing the latest story from afar. You may not be able to understand the nuances of a story because the story has been passed through many “ears and tongues” before it reaches you. Just like the game of passing the whispered story from the source to the 40th reteller, the story will change and the ending will be nothing like it was.
Through the years I have stopped receiving a local newspaper via delivery. They never get here in time for me to enjoy perusing them with my morning coffee. In Houston, back in the 70’s and 80’s, I subscribed to both papers. The Chronicle and the Post. One was delivered in the morning. The other in the evening. The best of both worlds let me stay in touch throughout the day. Then the evening paper became a morning paper to compete, and finally, one of them failed and now Houston only has the one morning paper. (I seem to remember Anchorage with this same issue back in the early 80’s – and now they have only one and it has been barely surviving.)
This has been the problem with the printed news. It’s often 24 hours of yesterday news that has already been analyzed to death by TV, Cable News, Internet news and Social Media. We are in an “instant society” and we want the news now, and this puts the news cycle on the razor’s edge of reporting but not necessarily having the time to “vet the facts” before someone else scoops them with the headlines. No longer are we contented to let the story unfold. We are ready for War at the very first bubble of a story. And we want every slice of the view until we find the one that resonates with us.
Side note: Vetting comes from a Veternarian Horse Racing term where horses were checked by the Veternarian before each race.
Imagine back in the time of Job. You know. The story of the family in the Bible who had great disasters that struck at the same time. The main character, Job, is hearing the news from one messenger how the Sabeans swarmed and took all the oxen and donkeys, and they slew all the servants but the messenger. Immediately, another messenger arrives to tell of the fire that destroys the livestock, and then another messenger arrives to tell of the Chaldeans making off with the camels and all the servants are dead except for the messenger. Then another messenger arrives to tell how all his children are dead because a wind collapsed the house wherein they were dining. (Job 1:13-19)
Slammed with news! How would you handle the bad news messengers? Blow a head gasket? Threaten and storm out to fight? Have a hissy fit? Well. Job did not do any of these things.
Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped. And he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD.” In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong. (Job 1:20-22 NKJV)
There is something about hearing the news and keeping your sanity in check and preventing your emotions from running to excesses. Notice Job. In hearing all the news he did not sin, nor did he accuse God of the wrong that was happening in his life.
We are all emotional creatures, with varied reactions to the stories we hear. Why? Because our backstory sets us up to act and react in certain ways, and at certain times. Culture. Collar (Blue vs White). Race. Ethnicity. Locale. Politics. Family Dynamics. Financial. You name it. We all have a backstory that forces us down one reaction path or another. Saner heads may prevail, but it’s very difficult to change who we are and how we respond.
Here’s My Thought: We need a reality check. Take a deep breath. Quit letting talking heads and slanderous reports take you down the path of reaction. The stock market may react like a YoYo, but there’s no reason for you to react the same way! Let the news settle in. Hear it out. Weigh the facts. Respond according to the dictates of your belief system, true, but be willing to hear the sides of the story that plays out in real-time, not the sped up time of the news cycle that changes with every second of every minute of the day!
A few decades ago I realized that every story has 40 sides. Each side relates to the idea that it’s 40 years for every generation to be counted. From every viewpoint slice you may see the story in a unique way, and just because you are seeing it from your viewpoint does not necessarily make it the right view. We all have baggage that insists we carry everything new in light of the weight we’ve been carrying for years.
Today. When I start to hear the negative reporting that makes so many angry, I simply turn it off. I figure there’s a better way of getting the story than the voices that want my advertising dollar more than others. Then I start my own research into the news. It’s difficult. It takes time. I don’t like all the answers I’m finding because it becomes hard to trust those who are speaking out the most.
In fact. We may never know the facts so that we can react appropriately. What do you do then? I refuse to get drafted to your league of reaction. I want to keep my sanity. I don’t want to be swayed like all the lemmings around me. If it takes me being slower than everyone else to find the truth, well, you can all just run off and leave me. I’m okay with that. At least it’s quieter with all of you running off!