They're having to work so hard these days. One can almost sympathize. It's just so hard to catch a break. After everything they've done, Bush and Kerry are still in a dead heat. Maddening! That's what it is. Maddening. And it used to be so easy. In the old days they'd say "This is the news", and there it was - the news. Every night Walter Cronkite would pick a few stories to make his points and then wrap up with "And that's the way it is...". For 280 million people that's the way it was.
They try to show us the way, they really do, showing us the stories that matter, the important stories, but it's not like the old days. When a story didn't make the right point, no problem, they just stuck in the back somewhere, out of sight if they had to use it at all. But they'd get the important ones out front, and they paid attention to the headline. They can still do a lot with headlines. They can take a bad story and turn it right around with a good headline. And it's a good thing too, you know. There are just so many more stories around these days, they just can't hide them all.
That's why the placement and the headline are so important. And the way a story is written matters. We're all so busy these days, always moving, always doing something. We don't have time to read a whole story so it has to be written with the most important points up front and the least important at the end. That way our friends in the media can feel they have a good chance that we'll pick up on the important things. But lately even that's not enough. Maybe they sense we haven't been getting it.
So, lately they've taken to reporting things that, well...may not be quite true. They'll write headlines that actually contradict their stories. They find themselves repeating things, things that turn out later on to be wrong. With corrections, well sometimes word doesn't get around that fast. Oh well, what's done is done. It's on to the next. There's always another important story are out there to be made.
It's all part of bringing us the truth, you know. That higher truth. They're dedicated people, but with the internet, and bloggers, and email, well there's only so much they can do. Nowadays when they say "This is the news", half the people just flat don't believe them, calling them liars. It's scandalous. They're out there day in and day out shaping public opinion and going that extra mile to make the world a better place. It's a thankless job.
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