Friday, July 22, 2011

Headlines?!?!

Ok, I don't know if I've ranted on this before...but I feel like ranting on it today.

The "headlines" so often seem to be aimed at the stupid and/or fearful. So many times I want to say "No Sh*t." Or perhaps "So what?"

Here are a few plaguing the interwebs today:

Health Tip: Get Kids Moving (Really? I thought letting them sit on their fat butts was the best way to keep them healthy. This isn't news.)


Health Tip: Keep Kids' Lunches Cool (But little Jill Jr. LIKES hot mayonaise.)

Health Tip: Binge Eating May Lead to Weight Gain (Well then, I need a new weight loss strategy. I was SURE that cramming loads of donuts in my fat face would make me lose weight or at least stay healthy. WHO KNEW that eating lots and lots of food in short time spans would make you fat?!?!)

5 Apps With...Lauren Bush: Model, Designer And Philanthropist (How exactly is it news if some rich white chick likes her Ipod? Why not run this in the advertising section?)

Apple To Buy Hulu? (I don't know. You're the reporter. You tell me.)

Laid Off On Wall Street: Lowest-Paid Workers Losing Jobs (NO! You mean the people at the top don't just fire each other???? Are you telling me that the people at the bottom get the shaft? Well, that IS news.)

In Chrysler Bailout, Taxpayers Likely To Lose Up To $1.3 Billion: Treasury (While we may not have know exactly how much, we knew when the bailouts happened that we weren't going to get that back. It was a loser. Not news unless you concentrate on the exact amount.)

Michelle Obama Films 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition', Repeats Target Dress On Thursday (Since when is someone wearing clothes for a second time "news"? I'm wearing a shirt today for about the 100th time so apparently I'm way ahead of Michelle Obama. Why aren't reporters banging on the trailer door?)

This is why I rarely read or watch mainstream news. It used to be news. Then it was "infotainment." Now it lacks both "info-" and "-tainment." I quit.

If anyone has suggestions for a news site where fewer than 1/2 of the headlines are questions or warnings about how I might die from random household items or updates on the current favorite products of celebrities, I'd like to know where it is. The BBC is starting to let me down. CNN is filled with crap in the "health" and "living" type sections and the international news is largely based on asking how serious tragedies in other countries might affect US citizens...then speculating that it's all bad or otherwise fear mongering. I read Dahr Jamail's articles and follow Greg Pallast, but there must be more journalists out there doing some good work. These two guys can't cover everything.

1 comment:

Pamela said...

Not the best source breaking- but better than many for actual info. Though they recently started some advertising along the side. Only a handful of headlines end with a "?"

http://www.propublica.org/