I don't really like to watch or read the news. I can't remember ever watching the news when I lived in Moscow and I never felt too out of touch with reality. The fact is, most news items are nothing more than space fillers. If something big and important is going on in the country, I'll hear about it. For example: I lived in Moscow when the whole Bush/Gore tied election thing was going on. I never watched the news or saw a paper, but I sort of new what was happening and once it was settled, I knew the outcome and that's all I really needed to know. Had I been a law student or a politician it might have mattered if I watched it, but as it is, I don't think I would have gained anything by watching every breaking news moment. Contrariwise, I had full access to the news during the 9/11 attacks. In fact, I think I watched the news for six straight months. It was on at the house, it was on at work, it was on anywhere I went. While I don't want to belittle the importance and sadness of that event, I don't see how 24 hour news stations helped anyone. There was rarely new information, but I watched all the time, just in case there was. Maybe all that footage was helpful to the American public since we have such a short cultural memory...but even with all that, how many people have forgotten in little over a year? Now, we're facing war in Iraq. I know that, and I don't need to watch the news to know that. There is always some little development that the news reporters are eager to tell everyone, but I can't help but wonder how much Saddam Hussein and co. watch and learn from CNN and MSNBC and CNBC and Headline News. Maybe it hurts us more than it helps. As my old friends Simon and Garfunkel said: "I get all the news I need on the weather report", and even then, it's usually wrong.
Posted by christin at March 1, 2003 02:19 PM | TrackBack