When U.S. Airways Fight 1549 recently went down in the Hudson River, it was big news, as well it should have been. However, like many other major news stories over the past 25+ years, reports of the downed jetliner and the successful rescue of its passengers dominated the news in such way that little else was covered over a period of several days.
Despite the importance of the event, did we really need to watch the same video loops and hear accounts of the story over and over again for more than 48 hours – on every cable news channel? What does that really accomplish?
With the advent of the 24-hour cable news cycle in the early 1980's, I thought we would actually get some variety in the types of news programming that would be available. Instead, we have gotten more of the same. When a major news event like this occurs, the thinking at CNN, CNBC, Fox News, etc. seems to be that people won't be able to get enough of it.
Therefore, they all focus mainly on that story, putting their special little spin on it and hoping to grab and report tidbits of information about it before the others do. I call this the "me-too-and-hopefully-first-some-of-the-time" mentality and it plagues all the cable news services. Anyway, the frenzy over this kind of a major news story continues until these networks either believe their viewers have grown weary of it or the next big event takes place, whichever comes first.
Just once, I would like to tune in to one of those news channels after some significant event takes place and find a message at the bottom of the screen stating that this channel will not be covering it in any kind of depth because such coverage is readily available elsewhere. Instead, according to message, they will be spending their airtime on the day's other news. Yeah, right – who am I kidding?
Terry Mitchell is a software engineer, freelance writer, amateur political analyst, and blogger from Virginia, USA. He posts a least one article a day to his blog - http://commenterry.blogs.com - on subjects such as current events, politics, technology, society and culture, religion, health and well-being, self improvement, personal finance, trivia, and sports.
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Yeah, who are you kidding Terry? I found the coverage crazy as well. I turned the television on the morning after and the first thing I hear is :Hero Over The Hudson" why do they have to be so dramatic over everything? Yes, it was a wonderful story and the Captain did a hell of a job, but believe me, he'll get his rewards in a made for television movie, book deal and appearances. Thank for the article. lol
Hear, hear, Terry. I rarely watch news anymore. They are still covering the Caylee Anthony case from day one to now. Enough that they have driven the Grandfather to the point of suicide. And getting me pretty close. What on earth is the matter with these people?
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