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TV Bites With
Neena Louise |
Vote for Me, I'm on TV
by Neena Louise
Is it just me, or is TV reporting largely responsible for this whole election
thing? I strongly suspect the idiots in the television news actually started the
whole thing by rushing to make an announcement as to the winner of the election.
I actually gloated over the television news' Keystone-Kop-like behavior when
they first confidently announced Bush as the winner. Then Gore. Then Bush. Then
Gore. Then finally admitting they just didn't know...
I suspect that, if the news media hadn't made these premature announcements, the
election process wouldn't have deteriorated into such a fiasco. If I had
confidence in the television news before, I sure wouldn't now! They should be
extremely ashamed of themselves, and I'm still waiting for them to apologize -
both to the candidates and to the American public. And why haven't they? All
they do is break into "regularly scheduled programming" to announce
that there's nothing new (and boy, am I getting sick of THAT) or to show a news
conference with one party bashing another party, or to announce a decision in
one of the many lawsuits that have been filed...a whole lot of nothing.
Then, to make things worse, the news starts pointing fingers: They blame the
public for being too stupid to know what hole to punch; they blame the designer
of the ballot for being too stupid to make it clear (do I ever feel sorry for
that ballot designer in Florida); they blame the electoral process for being so
outdated; they blame the ballot re-counters for not knowing how to count; they
even blame Gore and Bush! Why isn't the TV news taking any responsibility for
this mess? They started it!
What's the rush to announce a new president, anyway? Since he will be in office
for four years, I hardly think taking a couple of months to carefully
determine exactly who voted for whom is going to break the country. The result,
so far, is essentially a tie and perhaps if the news would stop hounding
election officials for a decision, Florida could take their time, do a careful
recount and announce a final decision. I thought it very telling that, when an
election official was asked if he was feeling any pressure, his immediate
response was, "Only from the media."
I've heard that the public, in general, are being very patient and would rather
wait and actually have a president that was voted in by the public rather than
by the TV news; the media, however, keeps interfering with what we want, and
continue to insist on results as soon as possible. They just don't know when to
BACK OFF. Now the courts are involved; re-count deadlines were set (which is so
incredibly stupid) and ignored; lawsuits are being filed left and right; the
mud-slinging between the two candidates is increasing...all because reporters
just can't control themselves in their rabid zeal to win ratings. The President
doesn't run the country anymore - the news media does. We should all be a little
uneasy about that.
Television is supposedly in "November Sweeps"; yet with the Olympics,
then presidential debates, then baseball and now with the constant interruptions
- to the precious few shows that have premiered - by moronic TV anchors keeping
us "updated" on the latest breaking non-news about the election, I
suspect the "new" television season isn't going to start until the new
year (which is when it should start, anyway).
I have never been so disgusted with the television news media. I had little
faith in them to begin with. Now I have none. I think we should all be a little
(ok, a lot) skeptical of the television news, since they just can't be
trusted to report the TRUTH anymore
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