news of an honest nature

I want to know what happened in the real world while I lived in my dreamy one overnight. So, most mornings my habit has me turning on the television for the early morning headlines. First the local word, which is usually pretty reliable, then the big stuff according to one of the networks. Even though most of the stories are usually sad or shocking even, the means and delivery are sometimes sort of a spectacle in themselves, and maybe just as newsworthy.

From time to time I’ll twit or blog something a little critical of one of the big news networks. It’s been revealing to learn how many people, more than I ever would’ve thought, actually attach their news source to their politics. They take it personally when you offer a bit of criticism or judgment on their favorite reporter, and that’s usually the one who slants the news in their favorite direction. I can mention CNN or MSNBC and you’d think I kneed a Democrat or a liberal in the groin. I’ve been getting more and more annoyed with Fox News lately. I mentioned it the other day when I updated my Facebook status. I was practically accused of digging up Ronald Reagan and rolling him over.

I’d love, really, really love to find a news source that is just honest. No weighting or leaning, no pro/con adjectives to tilt the story, no love/hate expressions. Just facts. Just straight-to-the-point information without a bias. If there is a network or a newspaper or a source out there anywhere that will allow me to determine the worthiness of the info, I’m having trouble finding it. I guess news is too big a business to risk something like a calm, neutral audience. NPR can’t even do it.

This morning, someone on the Today Show teased an “exclusive” interview coming up later, then they go to a commercial. I flip the channel and there is their “exclusive” interviewing with another talker on another network. As small as it seems, if the Merediths, Matts, Dianes and Harrys don’t mind fibbing a little on the small stuff, how reliable is the big story?

In the afternoons, I sometimes turn on CNN. There’s Wolf-man practically having an orgasm over our new president. It’s non-stop. If I guessed two thousand, I’d win the office pool on how many times “President Obama” can be mouthed in thirty minutes – and always with a trembling lip to prove the love. This has nothing to do with the president. But it has everything to do with “the most trusted name in news.”

Reliable info is just as scarce over at Fox, at least early in the day when I’m tuned in. They work hard on shock-and-awe there, so the teases and rhetoric is usually pretty over the top. This morning, in an attempt to keep us tuned in past the commercials, one of the guys who sits on the morning team couch just flat out lied. He was teasing a story from here in Kentucky that I’ve been keeping up with and know pretty well. The Fox guy obviously didn’t think the truth was spectacular enough, so he just made something up. Now that I caught their trick, I have to wonder if any of their words are accurate.

C-Span is a cool thing. It’s real reality TV. With no commentaries or “analysis” from talking heads who follow a political speech with, “what they were really saying,” you and I can just turn it on and watch the slow wheels of government do our business. Without the confusion of an untrustworthy reporter on a biased network we can see the nuts and bolts being turned right before our very eyes. I encourage you to take a look when you can. Sometimes it’s painfully dull, and other times it’s better than a Ringling Brothers show. But if it’s nothing else, it’s better than exaggerated, dishonest, politically tainted reporting.