Media Won't Let the Pandemic "News" Go

The media won't let the pandemic news go. Obviously they must believe such news attracts listeners and viewers.

The "news" isn't just reporting facts, of course. It never is - at least it's not been that way for years. That's why I stopped watching and listening to the media as I once did.

Once upon at time, I started the day with the local morning news. Usually, I was off to work before the national morning news kicked in (e.g., the "Today Show"). But if I had the day off, and sometimes on weekends, I'd check in to national feeds as well. 

At night, I'd watch the local broadcast first, then the national news. I even read newspapers for years. Sometimes, I'd tune in to news on the radio.

Imagine reading newspapers and watching the news.

Another world? Yeah, it was.

Was I better informed in those days? Maybe somewhat. There was a residue of reporting that actually reported facts, that, when reporting stories, took the trouble to ascertain what really happened before interpreting the facts. So I guess I maybe did learn something objective - at least a bit.

It's a strain to even recall all this. It was so long ago.

Viewpoints, even agendas, always were buried in the news then. But they didn't obscure what really happened the way they do now. As it became apparent viewpoints and agendas were the primary purpose of what came across the airwaves, eventually the internet, there was less and less reason to waste time on what was claimed to be news. It simply wasn't. 

So now that the media has fixated on the pandemic - in ways that preclude any real attempt to dig down and get at facts that might help us understand what's really going on - I wonder why people watch it all. 

Maybe they really think the media is reporting accurately. But when the news begins with a story about a couple that died recently, from Covid, you have to wonder why. Sure, it's sad, especially when you see their two children talk about what good parents they had. (Yeah, I occasionally to watch a few minutes here and there - to get some idea what others are watching. I do it to understand how they might be manipulated. It do it because knowing that I'm better prepared to understand my fellow humans, especially when they express views that - at first blush - seem bizzare.) But how does that rate a lead story? How does that give us an idea of how serious the pandemic really is for the rest of us?

Oh, and this applies to both "sides." Both the Dem/Liberal Media and the Repub/Conservative Media plays the same game. It's all about gaining viewers, listeners, readers - and, sadly, nothing more than that. At least that's how it seems to me.

So aside from a few minutes here and there, the media goes and does its thing without me. And when I consider all the time I don't spend wasted on their viewpoints and agendas, I'm grateful for the time gained. There's so much you can do with an hour or two a day.