As reported in News, Notes & Weekly Stock Watch at VFC's NEW Stock House.
Talk about "hijacking a revolution".
That's been the fear as countries throughout the Middle East revolt and overthrow long standing dictatorships; that a far more radical form of government will move in setting those countries back another fifteen or twenty years, instead of move them forward towards freedom and democracy.
The true hijacking, however, is being conducted by the media. You see, since the Egypt story arrived so quickly, and came to a conclusion just nearly as quick, the media is looking to take full advantage of the internal strife of other countries since they missed the boat in Cairo.
The television reporters are constantly on the air almost begging for some other country to fall further into chaos so that they can report on it - and hope to make names for themselves, and what is being sacrificed is honesty, objectiveness and the truth.
Actually, what's really missing, is news reporting.
Which brings us to the larger question, do reporters really report the news anymore, or do they tell you what to think about subjects that it's all too painfully obvious they know little about themselves?
The over-embellishment of events is evident by multiple global media outlets (especially in the US) of some of the most recently "reported" news events from overseas. Truth, fairness and accuracy has been replaced by flair and drama. Sadly enough, it's actually the reporters themselves who look to be flaming the bloodshed on, waiting for people to die so that the situation falls into pure chaos, and they just might get their big break as a result.
It's disgusting.
As usual, the European broadcasts are winning the war of accuracy-in-reporting, although a few of them are also letting their standards slip. The good ones give you the facts, show you pictures - real pictures - not the same thirty second clip in loop-play for a three minute segment, and report it like it is - and it's few and far between that you see that anymore.
With declining sales of newspapers and the disappearance of legitimate media outlets, broadcasters are relying on the tricks of dramatic production to get people to watch - and as a result, it's only by coincidence will you get an accurate account of what's really going on.
Embellish a little here, exagerate, there, and lie just a tad here, and what do you get? The perfect news report for the 21st century.
Again, The New York Times set the standard for sub-standard journalism, thanks to Nicolas Kristof, who seems to know as much about Bahrain, for instance, as a two year old kid who hasn't yet learned how to use Google.
This guy ought to call Inspector Gadget and stay off the Twitter, because he hasn't a clue.
Today's newsman has become yesterday's lawyer - a piranha, or a vulture, circling its prey, waiting to swoop in and strike at just the opportune time - and then make a name for himself at the behest of someone else's suffering, with little regard to the consequences of his actions.
They would have you believe, this generation of reporters would, that it's their voices that are bringing these current events to fruition, that it's the freedom of the press that the people of the Arab nations are rallying behind, but let's not kid ourselves - there's been free press in the world for decades.
What's making the difference today is advancement of social media. It has nothing to do with CNN.
Time to take a back seat, news guy, you've been rendered irrelevant, and proven ignorant. You missed out on Egypt, and you'd love nothing more than to do all that you can do to make another situation worse, even if it means lowering the ethical standards just a tad bit.
How about you sit back, do some research about what's really going on and then REPORT. Every segment doesn't need to be OpEd.
Each Arab country is unique unto itself and is dealing with its own issue. Egypt is not Libya, which is not Tunisia, which is not Bahrain - you get the picture. But the media hasn't figured that out yet - and that's why they've all been so desperately wrong when telling the viewer what to think these past few weeks.
Across the pond now, where in the United States, citizens are jumping on the wave of protest as well. Thousands in Wisconsin are kicking off over budget cuts and the proposed weakening of the unions - the same unions whose tactics are bankrupting state after state, and who won't be touched by a politician (until now) because of their political lobbying power.
These protests are a far cry from the Middle East, however.
On one side of the world people are protesting over wages of two dollars A DAY, while on the other side of the world people (making a hundred thousand a year in favorable cost-of-living conditions) are protesting having to pay a 12% health care premium instead of six percent.
Let's put this straight - Wisconsin is broke. That state has a budget gap approaching four BILLION dollars over the next two years, not an insignificant number considering Wisconsin's modest size.
It's been said that greed blinds those who are greedy.
Remember that thing a couple of years ago that they called the worst recession since the Great Depression?
It started just like this - people spending more than they should and thinking that just adding more credit would solve their budget deficits. You're broke, Wisconsonites. You can't afford anything and everyone's feeling the pain.
Go home and come up with a reasonable budget and get your state in order before you become California.
And then cry me a river, if you're not willing to do what it takes to head towards a balanced budget.
Speaking of quality of reporting, it's debatable whether AOL's recent alignment with the Huffington Post will pay off in the long run. "Reporting" like
THIS reminds us that news in America these days has been transformed into basic blog reporting and childish bickering.
Hey, if that's where you want to go, AOL.
Funny enough, in some discussions I had as a result of the AOL purchase of the Huffington Post, I found out that there was actually someone still paying for email services from AOL.
I still get a chuckle out of that one - with all the free services, someone's still paying sixteen bucks a month for email?
Last one out, shut the door and turn off the lights. I think that guy saw the light and quit just the other day.
Welcome to the modern age of email.
I've got the perfect solution for the Mets this year, on how to compete in the NL East with the Phillies in possession of maybe history's best rotation - I'll just put Halladay, Oswalt, Hamels and Lee all on my fantasy team. That way it can be assured that one will have an off year, two will spend significant time on the DL and the other will give up about 50 home runs for the first time in his career.
On the subject of sports, with Fanball.com going out of business, anyone have any suggestions for an alternative to the Diamond Challenge?
vfc@vfcsstockhouse.com
