Fluff

Years ago when USA Today was first published, I realized it was totally possible to present news content without substance. Unfortunately today it is more often the norm rather that the exception. Rather than seeing real news we get a newsie-entertain-info substitute.

For those of you who need a hint as to what I’m talking about, news doesn’t come with a sound track. I hear it on radio and I see it with all the national Good Morning Today shows. Sometimes they will introduce something in a traditional way, but add music for dramatic emphasis somewhere in the story.

I would love to have a job picking music for news stories:

Republican losses in the election – You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling
The defeat of Gay Marriage measures – What’s Love
Got to do With It
Dick Cheney’s hunting accident – Shotgun
Gasoline prices- Pipeline

I hope y’all know these songs, by the way…

I could go on for hours, but what I see are a bunch of TV stations that produce stock stories and play them all over the country as a substitute for real news. Consider if you have or have not seen these story before. Feeding left over pumpkins to the elephants and hippos at the zoo. Feeding fish filled ice blocks to the polar bears in the zoo on hot days. The story about the 90 year old who is finally getting their high school diploma. The couple who got married on the roller coaster. The autistic kid who can play the piano. The dog or cat that saved their owners from the fire.

Here’s a story I’d like to see. How about a reporter that not only does some investigating but reports on something that flies in the face of their managing editor and sponsors.