MARCH MEDIA MADNESS

The shameless political exploitation of that poor Florida woman and her family is only the most recent example of how the politicians are feeding the media circus. In an unconstitutional power play to trample the clearly defined line between the judicial and legislative branches of our government, congress has declared that a person’s life and/or death is a matter for them to decide.

They can’t agree on how to fund Social Security or Medicare, how to bring our soldiers back from Iraq, how to solve the energy problem or how to reverse downward spiral of the economy, but somehow this very personal matter comes to the top of the agenda.

Note to Congress: IT’S NONE OF YOUR DAMN BUSINESS!

Note to the corporate media: IT’S NONE OF OUR DAMN BUSINESS!

Time was when the news was provided as a public service from those who were issued licenses to use “the public airwaves”. I vaguely remember hearing somewhere that we, the people owned the airwaves. Whatever happened to that idea?

Here’s what I think the problem is: The big corporate media conglomerations bought up all the little guys. Now a handful of giants own everything, including the FCC. “News” programs have become just another branch of the entertainment industry and must sell products and compete for ratings, just like the sitcoms and the so-called “reality”shows. (If that’s reality, I’ll stick with my hallucinations, thank you).

We share some of the blame. No news is good news and nobody wants to hear that Joe Blow made it home from the office without incident. It’s a fact – murder and mayhem sells newspapers and boosts ratings. Nobody watches NASCAR to see rednecks driving around in circles. They want to see spectacular accidents. I confess a guilty pleasure in watching “World’s Wildest Police Videos” for the sheer joy of seeing some drunk kiss a tree at high speed. We can’t help it. The Romans had nothing on us for spectator sports.

So, here’s my solution: News broadcasts should not be sponsored or rated. That way, there may not be the media stampede to be there first with the most disgusting story. Maybe we wouldn’t have to hear about Michael Jackson or Scott Peterson or Robert Blake or that poor Florida woman every five minutes for weeks and weeks. (I refuse to use that poor woman’s name – we shouldn’t even know it).

There is enough depressing real news out there about things that matter: world politics, war, economy, environment, natural disasters, etc. Can’t we stay out of people’s lives while they struggle with very personal problems?

I repeat: IT’S NONE OF OUR DAMN BUSINESS!