Nightly News View

I've noticed something annoying about TV news. It is of course visual, and in the case of the national news there seems to be a bit of laziness when it comes to making the news interesting. NBC, for example, can't simply have a talking head telling you what is important, they have to SHOW you what they are talking about. Specifically, I'm talking about the little video's they run over the reporter on the scenes voice.

I noticed the video laziness when the economic meltdown started; someone went to a Michigan employment office and took video of the people standing in line. For the next three weeks we were treated to the same video, of the same people, standing in the same line, at the same agency every time the news anchor had a story about unemployment.

Lately, with Obama in Asia, the news has been concentrating on the balance of trade with China and the United States and how the Chinese manipulate their currency at the expense of the rest of the world. Every night for the last week we have been shown the same video of the same woman counting the same stack of Chinese currency in the same bill counting machine. The photo is from NBC.com.

And oh, oh, the sheets of paper money being printed at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing; every time the deficit is mentioned or some other reference to money is made....out comes the same video of the paper money.

If you mix the overuse of these canned shots with the habit the news has of making anyone they are about to interview do a quick walk toward the camera and then past the camera; it makes the news pretty predictable and boring.
Wait; I have lost my memory when it comes to the news, I forgot that the real reason they do the news is for ratings and money. Someone in the news section of the major networks may care about freedom of the press, but for the most part I think they just want to make more money.

On another news note; I see that congress is trying to pass a law to protect news reporters who refuse to reveal their sources. This effort is being made after some reporter revealed classified information and the government rightly wanted to prosecute who leaked the info. They subpoenaed the reporter to testify about who gave her the information; "Don't ask me" is what the reporter says, "go figure it out for yourself." So far as I know, the court has sided with the government.

I have a suggestion for all reporters; Don't print information that is obviously classified. You might get somebody killed. I think printing information that clearly exposes our military or national secrets could be considered treasonous. The public does NOT have a right to know when or how we fight our nations enemies, not when the lives of our servicemen and women are hanging in the balance.