Dear Mainstream News Outlets
No, that's not the set of a Jason Statham movie.. That's the Gulf of Mexico getting a 600-mile helping of crude oil
I've never been one to turn to the television for my breaking news. Not only is the TV biased based on a number of factors (what channel, who's sponsoring, what the news is), commercials and fluff news just tend to get into the way of what I think the 'news' should be. Instead, I go online for my news. You can read infinite versions of the same story, get different spins and different understandings of the goings on of our fair planet that way. Also, I get right down to the story rather than having to wait through 20 minutes of shit I don't care about. That said, I've come to a harrowing realization over the past two weeks or so: You guys, the mainstream news outlets, don't show much ACTUAL news nowadays.
No those aren't special effects. That is downtown Nashville, TN under 8 feet of water...
Take, for instance, the ridiculous amount of flooding in Tennessee, Kentucky and Mississippi this week. Until I saw a press release online, I'd heard not a thing about it! Imagine that! Three states have entire counties under a layer of water, and if I had rested on my own laurels, I probably still wouldn't know about it. Look at the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (above). Our prices for gas are probably going to skyrocket in the next few months, and people probably won't be able to put two and two together. Maybe that's because rather than, you know, covering the story, you guys talk about celebrity gossip and muckraking politics...
I think I'd much rather hear about the impending darkness over Europe than some fluff story...
Take the volcanic ash clouds that covered half of mainland Europe last month. The ash, from Scandinavia, disrupted airway travel for over a week, essentially shutting down airports from London to Berlin to Paris and back. Thoughts of impending apocalypse (we know it wasn't that serious, now) flooded the minds of those stranded, while we in America playfully went about our Easters. Mainstream news, it's unbelievable that in this day and age people are still uninformed about what is going on around them. You guys downplay the good in the world and drum up drama when you see fit, rather than simply report. What's crazy is that all of these stories are natural disasters, meaning they have some bearing on us attempting to function on Earth. You'd think that you guys would take an active interest in letting people know what is going on. I guess pushing Glenn Beck's idiotic comments for ratings are more important...
The word 'news' isn't even an actual word. It's actually an acronym for North, East, West & South. By that virtue, you as news outlets should be reporting the happenings from all four corners, not putting your (liberal or conservative) spin on it, withholding information, or putting fallacious information out. I suppose that this was a largely undirected and unfocused letter, by my standards. However, I will not stand to answer another question about a news story that happened a few days ago. I understand it's a bit unfair to blame you for the lack of interest in world issues, considering how apathetic Americans have become in my lifetime. However, it has to start somewhere. And it has to start with the people designating what becomes an issue. Maybe this was too much of a rant to be a letter. Even so, it needed to be said, and was heavy on my mind. Hopefully you guys quit grab-assing over spot quotation journalism and report what matters...