Hey, That's Not News!

I generally don't watch much TV news, for any number of reasons (time, interest, quality, etc), but occasionally I'll catch some of it.

I recall hearing a newscaster once actually ask the following question, in context of some bad economic news "Is it time to panic now?" Um, is there ever a time when the answer to that question is yes?

And then there's the "political news," which these days seems limited to two topics: a) how much money the various candidates (by which I mean Hillary and Barak) have raised, and b) Who is in the lead of the latest poll. Wouldn't it be nice if the news reported something relevant to the issues, like "Candidate X came out in support of Issue Y today, explaining she/he would do Z... Another candidate said the opposite." Instead, we get to hear about Brittney Spears' latest misadventure - poor kid.

If newspapers and television news are seeing their customer base diminish, it's not just the internet's fault...