Thursday, May 19, 2011

The media [note the small m]

Once upon a time newspapers gave us News. Once upon a time the radio played music, or serials that we followed either in the evening or in the morning at baby bathing/feeding time. News and weather were regular ... on the hour, and certainly at meal times when the man of the house would be there to listen. I recall the silence that was maintained at the table whilst the news and weather were on!

If we wanted gossip we could stop and speak to Mrs Know-it-all down the street, or try to avoid a telephone call from Mrs Down-the-road who seemed to know everyone's business. I saved movie star photos, mostly black and white, simply because magazines boasting colour photos were too expensive.

Today news is not news ... it is opinions. Serials? There are programmes purporting to be serials, but usually trivia dressed up in saccharine, liberally laced with half-truth and supposition. The newspaper seldom 'reports' news ... it fills its pages with biased opinions, seemingly in the hope 'public opinion' will suck in the details, swallow them whole, and before we know it ... what they supposed becomes a truth. Except these 'opinions' were not the calculated views of the public ... they are picked up and given credence because so many today do not want to be outside the 'public opinion'.

This state of affairs makes me cross! I dislike being cross because of what over-bearing, self-opinionated, want-to-make the rules people hoodwink those who do not, who cannot. think for themselves.

End of moan ... thankfully the sun continues to shine, the world continues to turn on its axis, and there are birds and bees, flowers and trees to make a pleasant diversion from the media.

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