By Steve Gordon
Sometimes I just want to scream and yell at the TV, and not at the Eagles for playing so poorly. It is at main stream media. Can somebody explain to me how reporting the news morphed into sensationalizing it? Why can’t they just report what happened without the drama?
I bet you know what I talking about. In the last few weeks there have been a series of senseless random acts of violence where innocent people were murdered. Most recently the horrific events in Newtown, Connecticut in an elementary school.
Earlier today I shared a post of a statement Morgan Freeman made and I agree with him. Absolutely do not mention the name of the person committing the acts. NEVER EVER!!! We don’t need to know and it seems to only spur on other people to try to go one better. Where does it end?
I bet you know what I talking about. In the last few weeks there have been a series of senseless random acts of violence where innocent people were murdered. Most recently the horrific events in Newtown, Connecticut in an elementary school.
Earlier today I shared a post of a statement Morgan Freeman made and I agree with him. Absolutely do not mention the name of the person committing the acts. NEVER EVER!!! We don’t need to know and it seems to only spur on other people to try to go one better. Where does it end?
But it is more than that. These people have innocent families that had nothing to do with what they did and don’t you think they have suffered enough. The media creates an atmosphere of secondary victimization for them.
Further, it doesn’t stop there. After the word is spread on local and national news and sensationalized and dramatized, sometimes mere hours after the occurrence TV specials are hastily aired. Rarely do they provide more or meaningful information as they rehash and repeat what has been said earlier. In the latest one all kinds of wrong information was broadcast.
I watch the news on TV because it is a way to quickly be informed of things going on around me in the community and the world. It is a link to the outside past my front door and it can be informational only the negative overshadows the positive more often than not. I know people who do not watch TV news because of the negativity and they do not expose their young children to it.
One last point before I stop ranting. Please get off the gun control issue. Personally I do not think everyone needs or should have a gun and I certainly do not see a need for any citizen to have access to assault type weapons or assault weapon related equipment. I do however think it should be harder to legally obtain a handgun because it is harder to get a drivers license than a gun and a gun permit.
That said, these crimes are committed with mostly illegal or illegally obtained guns, Gun control is not the answer but it is a start. People that are planning on doing things with guns will find a way to get them no matter how strict the gun control laws are, but if just one potential offense can be averted that is progress.
We can't just sit back and do nothing and most definately putting more guns out there like having armed police in the schools, as the NRA has suggested, is in my opinion not a resolution to this issue or a good idea. What will be next, libraries, hospitals, post offices, shopping malls, movie theatres, etc.?
Further, it doesn’t stop there. After the word is spread on local and national news and sensationalized and dramatized, sometimes mere hours after the occurrence TV specials are hastily aired. Rarely do they provide more or meaningful information as they rehash and repeat what has been said earlier. In the latest one all kinds of wrong information was broadcast.
I watch the news on TV because it is a way to quickly be informed of things going on around me in the community and the world. It is a link to the outside past my front door and it can be informational only the negative overshadows the positive more often than not. I know people who do not watch TV news because of the negativity and they do not expose their young children to it.
One last point before I stop ranting. Please get off the gun control issue. Personally I do not think everyone needs or should have a gun and I certainly do not see a need for any citizen to have access to assault type weapons or assault weapon related equipment. I do however think it should be harder to legally obtain a handgun because it is harder to get a drivers license than a gun and a gun permit.
That said, these crimes are committed with mostly illegal or illegally obtained guns, Gun control is not the answer but it is a start. People that are planning on doing things with guns will find a way to get them no matter how strict the gun control laws are, but if just one potential offense can be averted that is progress.
We can't just sit back and do nothing and most definately putting more guns out there like having armed police in the schools, as the NRA has suggested, is in my opinion not a resolution to this issue or a good idea. What will be next, libraries, hospitals, post offices, shopping malls, movie theatres, etc.?
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