When you think of what news used to be like -when it was actually productive and informative- nothing exemplifies it more than FDR’s “fireside chats” back in the 30’s and 40’s. It also makes you wonder how journalists of that era would view what has essentially become the dumbing-down of news over the past two or three decades. Would they shake their heads in utter disbelief at how reporters put emphasis on pointless occurrences or useless bits of information? You’d have to think that they would, in fact, be appalled at the slow-yet-steady decline in journalistic quality.
It’s the constant focus on the irrelevant. Updates on celebrities and their actions on a daily basis has taken center stage in the news world, shoving aside information that can actually impact our lives. Just the other day I was sitting at home when “Inside Edition” came on in another room, and one thing I heard sums up this blatantly obvious decline perfectly: “Kim [Kardashian] was spotted the other day, her baby bump clearly visible.”
Since when did Kim Kardashian’s pregnant belly have any impact whatsoever on my or anyone else’s life? The list of “celebrity updates” goes on seemingly forever, while the only time world news gets any serious airtime is on Sunday morning political shows.
This, dear friends, is a travesty.
What this dumbing-down shows is that journalists are catering to people’s inane focus on the happenings of celebrities’ lives (which does them absolutely no good), instead of serving the greater interests of the people they’re writing for by reporting/writing about things that actually matter. If this keeps up, the future of journalism will be bleak at best.