msb-0189 "What's happened to the news?"

msb-0189 "What's happened to the news?"

intro

---- "The Shiny Nose Song" by: "Chris Ayer" http://www.myspace.com/chrisayer

Feedback comes first, so...

Okay, something so stupid is happening that I just have to comment on it.

The New York Times is reporting [ http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/21/washington/21health.html?hp ] that president Bush is fighting a battle which for something that exists only here in the 'States or in third world countries.

He's locked in a battle to stop states from expanding the popular "Children’s Health Insurance Program" on the basis that you should have to be indigent or damn near it to qualify.

Why should parents be faced with having to deal with a sick child AND be faced with the cost AND be faced with dealing with the insurance companies, who don't freakin' wanna pay. Ever! (The choice is between paying your snotty little kid's medical bills and paying for a new condo for the HMOs owner, your kid's medical bills are going to be refused.)

HMOs were Nixon's idea to change the pathetic landscape of health care in the sixties when "any" illness was catastrophic.

He pushed the medical bills onto the employers.

Guess what, the employers have pushed back.

Why should ANY family be faced with the HMOs automatic refusal to pay ANYTHING when their kids are sick.

Let me frame it in a way he'll understand.

Picture of a happy suburban family in a happy suburban house, (White people too.)
Picture of an ambulance coming to the door because a child got sick.
Picture of same suburban family in the same suburban house, but rapidly getting soiled and dowdy.
Then getting a For Sale sign in front of it.

Just to let him know what the choice is:

Picture of a happy suburban family in a happy suburban house, (White people too.)
Picture of a hearse coming to the door because a child got sick. (Child [a dead ringer for a young Jenna Bush]: "But I'm not dead yet." Dad [a dead ringer for George Bush]:"Yeah, but your mom's still young enough to have another." Yells at the hearse driver: "Don't for get to bring back my shovel. I got hydrangea to plant.")

That's a frame for the choice Bush's offering.

What is his fucking problem? Governments are supposed to take care of their citizens, not treat them like they've got leprosy.

---- "Sunny Shiny Moon" by: "Sigmon" http://matthewsigmon.com/

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---- "Shiny" by: "The Bang" http://www.myspace.com/bangtheband

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---- "Give me sunshine on a rainy day" by: "Paul" http://www.myspace.com/paulborth

Main Topic: "What's happened to the news?"

I could have titled this "Another reason why I think mass media is going away."

Ever wonder why there is so little in-depth, well researched, focused, real news? (As opposed to manufactured "photo ops" and PR spin?)

In trying to "Cover the World" like "Sherwin Williams Paints", the coverage is stretched a mickle thin and spotty.

Its thin because its expensive to do it all. It costs a lot to keep all those reporters in the field and readership, and therefore the ad revenue, is shrinking.

Its spotty because in the world of economic scarcity that the monolithic news agencies are still operating in, they have to focus on one thing "or" another. The editorial budget says you can only print so many pages.

It used to be that we just didn't know about what was happening in China, or Darfur, or Timbuktu. (And dictators counted on that.)

Now we are not only being asked to find these places on the map, (cartophobia and cartographic illiteracy are becoming a bigger problem as Google maps are becoming more widespread and people are being shown to be mimetically ignorant,) but we are being asked to give a, uh, fig, yeah, fig'll do, about people we'll quite likely never meet (and being stuck with MS feels like being stuck in sub-Saharan Africa sometimes, for all its remoteness.)

In this internetworked world of plenty, we're drowning in a sea of information.

The problem is one of quality not quantity as you can usually find someone who's temporary obsession or persistent passion will be the subject you're interested in.

However that person may not be skilled in research or in writing about the research conducted.

Its no longer a question of quantity but one of quality.

Regardless of whether your information comes from a globe-spanning news organization or a lone blogger, it also is ultimately a question of trust.

But, sadly, a lot of people put flash before substance and they'd rather just be distracted by something shiny.

The average IQ is only 100. (Then again, it would be 100 in a room full of Stephen Hawkins [and I wouldn't ask Mr. Hawkins for advice about my dancing. {The point being that, as nicely as I try to put it, most people don't want to have to handle anything more than staring at something shiny.}])

---- "SUNSHINE WITH THE SHADE" by: "The Reverse Engineers" http://www.thereverseengineers.com/

Main Topic, part deux:

That leaves "photo ops" and PR spin.

What can I say about all these plastic posers, glad-handing each other, arms caught in mid pump, forced-smiling, or is that grimacing in pain, baring their dull-ivory enamel, looking for all the world like flabby ovines in shabby suits with shiny pants?

The less said about that the better.

The only thing worse, appearance- and apparel-wise not withstanding, than these captains of commerce, forever fighting on film, is the politicos taking the time, between rushing from catastrophe to calamity, to lie to us about something they know very little of, beyond what their handlers have briefed them on.

Listening to their words, or reading them on tomorrows' fish-wrapper, makes me realize that the world leaders often aren't leading anyone, except some poor deluded "schmucks" down a weed-strewn, garden path; tripping over an ankle-twisting cracked flag-stone on their way to the dust-bins of history.

The ads are the only thing you can trust (and, if you're like me, you take them with a healthy dose of skepticism. They "are" trying to get me to part with my cash and keep as much as they can for themselves. Altruism and commerce don't mix. The best you can hope for is an honest deal.)

---- "New Orleans Shine" by: "Greenfoot" http://www.greenfootmusic.com/

Outro