News Junkie

They say that the first step to overcoming an addiction is admitting you have one so, yes I am a "News Junkie". I wake up in the morning and put on FOX News, listen to talk radio throughout the day, keep news feeds up on my web browsers, and watch a few hours of news at night. Two things I've figured out; there's a lot of problems in the world, and there's a whole bunch of crap being reported as news. News channels and have a tendency to sensationalize stuff that isn't really news. OJ Simpson, Natalie Holloway, and Anna Nichole Smith are all examples of stories that should have had 5 minutes on the news, not the years of coverage they've gotten. Yes, murder's, young girls disappearing, and celebrity deaths are tragic but the continual reporting and over emphasis on these types of stories trivialize all news reporting. I realize that sometimes there are slow news days and they need to come up with some "filler" and these stories would be fine for that. What I've seen though is the coverage becomes the news, it's no longer about the actual story, it's about the masses of people outside the courthouse, or the minute by minute coverage of an investigation that becomes the story. This level of attention can't be helpful in getting to the bottom of anything and it numbs people to that actual atrocities that had happened. I do like talk radio, especially now that I've started listening to several shows with differing opinions. I feel I'm getting a more balanced portrayal of important issues, or at least the issues they want me to hear about. I listen to Michael Savage in the evenings and he discusses issues that most other news organizations ignore. But here again, I only hear about stuff he feels supports his agenda. There is nothing out there that will give me a full spectrum report on what I think are important issues. I think that if they merged CNN and FOX into one news service, took out all the conservative-liberal labeling. You would get a fair and balanced report on whats going on. Fox has Hannity and Combs, which is supposed to be a balanced show, but in actuality is Sean Hannity's vehicle to demonstrate to the idiocy of the liberal point of view. Alan Combs does nothing but throw up softballs for Sean who is the dominate voice on the show. Fair and Balanced does not mean marketing news by using two extreme views, it should be a non-biased, non-sensationalized report on news reporting. As Joe Friday said; "Just the facts, Ma'am"! I'll continue to be a news junkie though, it does give me some idea of what's going on. I'll just have to keep in mind that I'm only hearing one point of view.