For many of us, reading and watching the news is a more recent habit. And from this journalist to you, the reader — it should be commended.
After all, those who are well read about the daily happenings in the world around them are more likely to contribute to the progress being made in the theaters of science, technology, political affairs and education.
Yet, the media has become disenchanting for far too long now. Front page headlines and top news stories are recycled, exaggerated narratives about a world that seems distant and disconnected from our simple lives. Not to mention, they’re fantastically depressing.
Before my conservative friends get excited, this column isn’t going to be a rant bashing CNN or The New York Times. Likewise, you liberal readers can be assured that Fox News and The Wall Street Journal aren’t going to be singled out anytime soon.
Instead, we should all collectively agree that our media has room for improvement. From this local paper up to CBS and ABC, journalists must begin to report on topics that have a more direct impact on everyone’s life.
This means that editors and corporate leaders cannot continue to enliven events between all-too-powerful U.S. Senators and dismissed bureaucrats in the Justice Department. The public deserves to be made aware of those struggles, but 15 minutes of a 30-minute talk show is overkill.
Also, we could care less about Anna Nicole’s promiscuous lovers fighting for her money and offspring.
According to the Project for Excellence in Journalism, last week’s top news coverage in U.S. mediums was dedicated to the following topics: Fired U.S. Attorney Controversy (16 percent), Campaign 2008 (9 percent), Iraq Policy Debate (6 percent), U.S. Domestic Terrorism (6 percent), and Iraq Homefront (4 percent).
Do any of those sound familiar? They should — we’ve been hearing about the latter four since 2004. Little has changed.
On a more local level, the media’s recycling rate is intensified. That’s right. The very newspaper you’re reading is one of the most predictable sources of news you’ll find.
My own experience with Technician has varied over the past four years. Freshman and sophomore years, I was the casual reader. Junior year, I assisted in making the news that was written. And, obviously, I contribute to the Viewpoint section on staff this year.
Little has changed.
By now, every upperclassman and University administrator already knows what major news stories will be featured throughout the months. In October, we’ll read about Homecoming and our failed fee review process. In December, charity groups will be collecting stockings and you can expect to read about the demise of the holidays by commercialism. February brings cheesy love stories, March involves SG fighting student affairs over botched elections, and April recaps all those repeated stories.
Of course, there are also the reoccurring media items that don’t necessarily have timed debuts. Pictures will be taken of the random freshman throwing a Frisbee, or a guitar player outside of Witherspoon Student Center. Columnists will write poorly researched pieces about God and confederate flags that serve only to upset in cheap ways.
Most predictably, Shannon Johnson will draft a diatribe in Campus Forum on the women’s movement that fizzled out decades ago. Sorry Shannon.
In the end, we can suppose that this boring recycling system works. Students are only here four or five years and the most intellectual of them still haven’t figured out Technician‘s cycled pattern.
This isn’t to say that our journalists aren’t dedicated or hardworking. Trust me; they stay up until 2 a.m. every morning ensuring that the student body has news. For a University without a journalism school, we do a damn fine job. Our weaknesses are the same as The Daily Tar Heel‘s and those of Ivy League papers.
So, what’s my suggestion for our readers? Students need to create events on campus and throughout the state that bring our interests to the forefront of the media’s attention. Let our media outlets know when something new is in the air and contribute to campus discussions that don’t involve flags and religion.
How refreshing would it be to pick up a newspaper and be surprised by the top headline and side photos?
Recycling is good for many things — aluminum, trees and creatures of the forest. But it has no place in media.
E-mail Forrest your favorite recyclables at [email protected].
