Friday, March 20, 2009

Shocking Headline of the Year

My Google CNN feed shows three headlines at any given time. One of those three headlines was so important that I just had to comment on it:


Really? Nice fella like that? Who woulda guessed?

But my real question is: Why would a journalist take the time to tell me this? The guy is in jail and has been for nearly 40 years. I sort of assumed he was alone a lot of the time. And how does that headline get picked as one of the three important headlines of the moment?

My point: as journalists continue to clutch their pearls and get the vapors over the decline of newspapers and the impending death of journalism, I'm going to remind myself that today's cadre of highly trained journalists are providing important announcements like "Charles Manson spends most of his time alone." Whatever would we do without this vital public service?

Of course, there are lots of good journalists out there who do a good job of keeping us all informed... and I'm sure they'll continue to figure out a way to do that, with or without print newspapers. And along the way, maybe we could have a little less of the historical-celebrity-murderer-update kind of journalism and a little more "here's what's happening in the world." 

3 comments:

Kim said...

Dan, I'm with you on this!

Anonymous said...

Hi Dan: me too... I have a lot of compassion for most people, especially folks down on their luck.... but I draw the line with psychopaths like Charles Manson... he is in prison, hopefully he stays in prison, and if he spends most of his time alone, he chooses so.... why did the journalist pick up on that and make it a headline? good question... your guess is as good as mine....Dad

jafabrit said...

lol, gosh I assumed the same thing, but also I have to wonder why anyone would care? Strange headline.