News Content
Posted on January 11, 2011
I am thinking this morning about the news problem we have discussed, regarding availability of radio newscasts 7-days a week. But there is another news problem very worthwhile to think about. I’m talking about news content.
Some news sources have political agendas and will omit stories or parts of stories, or will favor certain kinds of stories to satisfy their agenda. We may not notice the difference unless we become super aware of what is being reported by many sources.
One example of omission I noticed just last week was with regard to the new Republican Senate opening their season with a reading of the Constitution. There are two parts of the news coverage I heard on alternative internet sources which were not included by the local newspaper, in a story that occupied half a page. None of the representatives showed up to hear the reading, and very significant, several parts of the Constitution were skipped. The paper made it sound like a glorious moment of splendor for the flag.
What I am doing right now, talking about comparative news reporting, is called “journalism review,” and that’s something that was once the basis of its own newspapers and broadcasts, but has now disappeared entirely.
We may be small, but I don’t think we want to be unwitting propaganda voices for someone else’s agenda.