Movietone News 1940
When I was a kid if you wanted to see the news you did it in the movie theater. Yep, that's right. We would get two movies, an intermission, cartoons and the "news".
Well it's a good thing we have the Internet today or we wouldn't be getting any news at all. Wait, you say, we have channels and channels of news on the television and then there is the nightly news on our local broadcast stations.
It truly is amazing that there is no major protest about the pablum that is being fed to us on a daily basis via the public airways. Journalism no longer exists in American television today, it all has become one big entertainment business. Print journalism at least demands that you know how to read whereas television only requires electricity, but let's not let them off the hook either.
The latest song and dance man, what's his name?.... Brian something, got a slap on the wrist (six months without pay) for fabricating or at least blowing out of proportion his view of the news. Hmmm, hope he will be able to meet his kids tuition payments.
But lest I pick on a sole Midwestern boy and ignore the elephant in the room... when was the last time you saw anything on television about the Navy sailors that went to the rescue during the Fukushima disaster? Here is a recent report from Der Spiegel of all places. Hello CNN, NBC, ABC, FOX ~ oh and you too New York Times and Washington Post. Hmmmmmm resting on your laurels are you?
What else isn't being covered? Oh, I know, Bruce Jenner's gender transitioning is much more interesting. And the Houston girl on life support while her father fights to gain control of whatever wealth was left from that whole sad story. Both stories really very personal ones that don't merit so much media attention except that it "sells" which is a sad reflection upon you and I isn't it?
So maybe we are the ones to blame. We don't what to be informed, we want to be entertained, titillated. We want to peek into windows... in fact maybe that is why television screens have the shape they do.
Come on America grow up, use your brains. Life isn't a circle jerk after all.
Hat Tip to friend Keith for reminding me that the sailors from the USS Reagan are still fighting a tough battle unknown to much of America.
Thanks for the hat tip. I think we should contact the Public Editor at the NYT and ask why this story is being held in the darkness. It's outlandish that no one is reporting on it. Moving along, what's especially weird to me about the Brian Williams brouhaha is that no news source has mentioned Nancy Lying Snyderman in any of the stories. She was under Ebola quarantine and ignored it -- and they continue to use her as the chief medical reporter on the NBC news. Doesn't that count, especially in like of Williams lying? It's relevant. (Though I think they've been trying to hide her just a bit, after this Brian W thing. There was another "medical expert" on their news recently. I'm sorry, but it needs to be talked about in the open. NBC collects liars.)
ReplyDeleteAlso, let's not forget that the Daily Show outed Williams for presenting "war experts", every one of whom has massive investments in the war machine. This is apparently not a relevant fact that NBC feels people should know about. And Brian Williams willingly hid this connection. The station is awful.)
I remember Movietone News very well. I think the news reels felt old-fashioned, even back in the day. That same male voice always intoned the news. (I guess that's the "tone" in Movietone.) As a kid, I longed to see the cartoons. But then, there weren't hundreds of TV stations showing cartoons in those days. Times change -- and I'm glad they do. I just wish we'd get serious about truth in this country. It matters.
Good for you, for posting this.