Turn off the TV

The 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy had a much larger impact on our world today than we realize.  In the turn of events that followed JFK’s death, Broadcast Television companies scrambled to meet the public’s need for information, chronicling every detail as it unfolded.  The 4 days following became referred to as “Television’s Finest Hour.”

That single event marked the formation of something that draws the ire of many a skeptic today: the 24-hour news cycle.  Television news provides instant gratification for anyone desiring information, but amid the selection of top stories, a symptom arises that does more harm than good.

When stories break, such as the Sandy Hook, Conn., shooting, the race to report a story first creates problems.  There is no doubt that the public needs to be informed, but the hasty manner in which event’s like these are relayed leave inconsistencies, spawning inevitable conspiracy theories and typo laden hoax accusations.

Facts of the matter are seldom vetted properly, and when inaccurate information is published, television news channels do little to acknowledge, rescind, or correct a story after it’s reported.  But there’s another detrimental symptom of this kind of crisis reporting.  When there are no crisis occurring, producers are left with blank space that advertisers have already paid hefty sums of money for.  These content holes lead to the generation of issues that were exhibited this past week.

Did Beyoncé Knowles lip-sync the national anthem during the Presidential inauguration?  Why did the First Lady roll her eyes at Speaker John Boehner?  Roundtable panels and political commentary were allocated whole hours to discuss such inconsequential garbage.

Why should anyone honestly have their attention focused towards such trivial issues?  Television news has had its finest hour, and it’s clear that they are grabbing at straws in an attempt to stay relevant.