I had the news on this morning as I made my first grade son’s lunch, he ate breakfast, and I consumed as much coffee as I could. Generally I don’t listen. My wife turns it on for background nose. But this morning I did.
The local news led off with a story about man flying to Boston from Utah watching child porn in first class.
Then there was the scheme by which a boy and older man placed help wanted ads on CraigsList for men down on their luck, luring them to a suburban home where they killed them and buried them in shallow graves.
Finally, we got to the Today Show at 7, and they led with the story about child molestation at Syracuse.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Between all this, there were reports on teenage murders on the local news and a story about a murderer in Aruba being released.
I looked at the TV and then looked at my 6-year-old and turned it off. Is the news supposed to be a family event or X-rated, only for those over 21?
Maybe we are all a bunch of murders and child molestors? Maybe, but can’t we just put that on a separate channel and leave the news for stories like Prince William’s rescue mission?
How the hell are our boys going to grow up to be good if we only show them stories of men being evil?
Some years ago, there was tv footage of a rescue in a Texas flood, the kind that’s a couple of miles wide and six feet deep. A young girl was in a tree. Also in a tree when the footage started was a Guardsman. How he got there was not reported. A helicopter came over and lowered a harness from the door winch. The Guardsman got the kid into the harness, the chopper pulled away and the Guardsman gave a triumphant fist pump. And that was that. Kid was okay. The Guardsman….? Don’t know. Nobody reported on it. I don’t… Read more »
TV news is just not fit for small children. Watching TV news with your 5 yo is a bit like watching, say, Die Hard with the kid – and you wouldn’t do that, would you? If you like having the morning TV news “as background noise” it’s an annoyance to have to turn it off, but that life with kids for you; there’s just things you can’t or shouldn’t be doing if you have small kids in the house. Breakfast in front of morning TV news is one of them. Blaming the news studios is missing the point. The news… Read more »
Tom – that’s what “maw” “and paw” Matlack are for. Hopefully, supplemented by young Master Matlack’s maternal and paternal uncles, aunts, grands, cousins, etc. You obviously have the wisdom to know when to shut that junk off when needed, as well as a family that can help young Master Matlock to put bad stuff into perspective as he hears about them – as he will, despite your best efforts to shield him. So, Master Matlack will very likely be able to put the craziness on the news in perspective, based on being exposed to a secure home environment. He can… Read more »
I’ve wondered this one as well. It seems that whenever a man does a good deed you don’t hear about it but let that man rob someone and all of a sudden everyone knows his name. People complain about there being no good men. Actually there are good men out there and if the society would quit acting like they don’t exist or frothing at the mouth to see all the evil men they can we’d see more of them.
We get the media we watch and click on! When we consume we consent to what is served up. Attempts at happy positive news services have been tried. They failed. People don’t want only the happy news. Kids have access to the Net , Web and World Wide Media – and as young minds will, they consume at an incredible rate. There are a couple of possible answers – block access to all media sources, unless parental consent and supervision occurs, or spend ever increasing amounts of time talking them through it all! Fast Food – Fast Media – Fast… Read more »
I agree completely. About 12 years ago when there was a rash of school shootings the local tv station in Sioux City, IA did a poll and asked their viewers if they thought that stations reporting on the shootings was contributing to the copycat shootings. An over whelming amount (over 90%) said yes. When the results were reported the new anchor said, “well we will still be reporting them.” The media seems to think that the freedom of speech also means that they have no responsibility for the consequences of what they are reporting. Our local news in Kansas City… Read more »
Thanks for the thoughtful response Jason.
Unfortunately, this is what the media thinks will keep its ratings. Nothing says sensationalize like confirming what we think to be our beliefs.