HERE'S THE NEWS

What is the news? I Googled the question. News is information about recent events or happenings. Especially as reported by means of newspapers, websites. radio, television, I-phone, and others.

I am thinking about news this morning because I just returned from the gym. They have several televisions on the wall that you can watch while exercising. This morning two of the T.V. sets were showing a couple of nationally televised morning shows broadcast from New York City. The sets were side by side. My head was going back and forth as I watched both programs.

One network did about forty minutes of stories about the cold winter weather around the country. Frigid weather is pretty common in cold weather states in December.

The other network was devoting about the same amount of time to covering the second stabbing of an innocent passenger on a commuter train in a major city. In addition, they were covering the alleged embezzlement of an estimated billion dollars of taxpayer money intended for covid relief and possible other matters. This money apparently got into the wrong hands and was allegedly used for the wrong reasons. The point is if you did not see both broadcasts you might not know about one of these matters given extensive attention to on these programs.

In the early days of television going back to the 1950's. You basically had a choice of three networks to catch a half hour national news program each evening. In addition to some local news at 6:00p.m. and 11.00p.m. The national news came from New York and usually carried the same stories. People basically watched the channel that had the anchor they liked best. This went on for a number of decades.

Times have changed. Today through one form or another we are seeing or hearing news 24/7. The networks are now owned by major corporations. You also have cable news programs. Independent news people and podcasters are all over the internet and other options.

Those delivering the news are competing for ratings. Ratings translate into revenue. Revenue leads to profits. It is possible that some of the owners may have agendas they want promoted for their own interest.

The audience should be aware of these things. Maybe they should not always watch the same newscast. Try listening and watching a variety of news sources. Be aware of who is driving the news you are watching. This might give you a better or different understanding of what is going on in the world. The options are there. It is up to the viewer the consumer of the news to make best use of these options and be well informed.

WRITTEN BY

RON TURETT

I hope you enjoy my essays and will tell people you know about my blog. Thanks for your support! Ron