Media Blackout

I only saw 4 minutes of the news tonight and I realized that I can't look anymore. I had to turn it off. It has taken 22 minutes for my blood pressure to go down...some days it doesn't bother me - their tendency to make everything catastrophic and ridiculous.

I'm taking a couple of busy days as an excuse for a media blackout. I'm sure if I need to know something important, someone will tell me.

News Noise

I am compelled to watch at least the first few minutes of the news on a semi-regular basis, but it is getting harder and harder. I try to make it to the weather forecast most of the time, but sometimes I can't do it.

A sampling of today's news noise: A very sad story about animals rescued from a neglectful situation with a very effective shot of a reporter standing out in the dark and cold at the Humane Society after dark. A story about caramel coloring in colas causing cancer without information about how many thousands of pounds of coloring they had to feed the rats before they got the effect they wanted. Banter from the anchor people. Bed bugs. Baldness and cancer. Fear. Robbery. Fear. Snowpocolypse 2011.

If I listened to all of this and took it all seriously, I would feel more like rolling up into a ball and pulling the covers over my head than I already do.

Sometimes I wonder what the anchor people think as they read their ridiculous fodder.

Oh. OH! And don't EVEN get me started on one of the most horrific commercials EVER!  Isn't it bad enough that there is a local commercial that actually shows a close up shot of dog poop or the commercials where the bears have toilet paper stuck to their behinds. EW.  But last night. Last night's entry took the cake. Or pie, as it were.  It is a Mac and Cheese commercial and the very cute little girl who is about 8 years old (give or take a year) complaining about the food her mother has made for her.  I believe the phrase "shove...down my pie hole" actually came out of her mouth.  The first time I heard it, I doubted myself. After the 4th time I saw it last night, I was flabbergasted. I don't eat macaroni and cheese, so my lack of consumption will not make any impact, but I am seriously considering writing a letter to the company about it.  I have always considered that phrase to be equal to swearing.

Letter to Local News Media

Dear Local TV Newscasters and their Masters:

I have always been a regular evening news viewer.  I usually take in some news before prime time (if I'm home from work) and almost always watch the 11:00pm news and sometimes Nightline (not since the format change, though).  Over the past decade, I have become disillusioned and miss more and more nightly news casts.  This topic comes up with my conservative and liberal friends and colleagues alike - the news is just not the news anymore.

Daily, I am more and more thankful for the internet and for the myriad other paths to actual news.  If it weren't for alternative outlets for news and other pertinent information, I would think that every event in America, nay, the world had a "Portland or NW Connection". Additionally, I would never be able to go to another local restaurant because of the disgusting and sensationalized restaurant "reviews" that you show on a regular basis. I don't want to see stories on bedbugs for days and days in a row - show the story and move on for the love of Pete.

It is a little sad to see the old time newscasters reading the hideous and unfortunate "news" scripts and engage in uncomfortable banter.  I can almost see them flinching when they have to go from a bombing to an invasive infotainment segment.  I'm not sure why they stand for the disrespectful handling of the audience and the embarrassing way they insert themselves into the news stories.  Please stop forcing the newscasters to chat with each other - I don't care what they think about health care or Tiger Woods or the weather in California.

One newscaster, in particular, is on my DISLIKE list for her pretentious attitude and ingratiating manner.  Her interviews with some of the most vile criminals in the state and her "closeness and friendship" with some of the victims and their families has been such a turnoff that I simply cannot watch this person read any kind of news.

Please note that your "teaser" commercials really only serve to chase me to a different channel. Mostly, I just turn the TV off.  So, I don't watch Leno, Letterman or Kimmel, either.  I'm not sure the national stations know this, but perhaps they should...maybe that will be the next letter I write.

Respectful of my own time and sanity,

Jean