What is news? What is legitimate news? According to a recent FCC ruling, it’s probably nothing truly important.
That’s right. Just recently, the FCC ruled that shows like TMZ and 700 Club were actual news. In their words, the two shows are “bone fide newscasts.”
So let’s take a look at that statement.
TMZ describes itself as “your official site for entertainment news, celebrity gossip, Hollywood rumors…” etc.
I don’t know about you, but the last time I checked, celebrity gossip and things that may or may not be true (like rumors), do not count as legitimate journalistic material. While they may be entertaining, they are not truly news. They are nothing more than special interest pieces. The fact that so much attention is given to the personal lives of famous figures makes me sad. I know that may be taken as a derogatory or negative comment by those who obsess about celebrities, the truth, as far as I’m concerned, is that they are no more special than anyone else. They just have more money.
When newscasts turn to celebrity lives to fill time, I frown.
I am not going to school to become a reporter on celebrity lives. I don’t want to talk about drug addictions brought on by a general lack of the ability to entertain one’s self. I don’t want to write a pity story about someone who has had everything handed to them. Where is the future of the profession I love heading?
Down the tubes if this FCC ruling is for real.
Entertainment has come to dominate news. People grab newspapers to read the sports section, the comics and other such novelty items. That’s not journalism. The fact that you get more than 22 million hits when you search “TMZ” on Google is a bad sign. It shows the popularity of celebrity, but it also perhaps hints at the decline and eventual extinction of traditional media. If newscasts with this content are deemed “bona fide,” what will be left for those of us that have a true passion for accurate reporting?
Let’s look at 700 Club and hope for the best.
The 700 Club, for those that don’t know, is a religious show, featuring Pat Robertson. On the site, topics such as demons and psychics are discussed. It’s a program on the Christian Broadcast Network…I don’t have anything against it, but that seems a little biased.
Anyway, the point of this is to show that traditional journalism, the accurate reporting, the important things like government and laws and everything that the average Joe might find boring, are on the way out. Something needs to be done to combat this trend. Reality TV needs to show something a little more true to life (since when is “The Real World” even close to real?). The FCC’s support of this kind of journalistic garbage sheds a saddened light on the entire profession.
Is it really a surprise that Rupert Murdoch is behind TMZ?
Last time I checked Fox News was the most credible and unbiased news station in the country.
And last time I checked white men can jump.