This problem is often highlighted on The Daily Show or The Colbert Report but since they've been preoccupied with more pressing ridiculousness, I thought I'd take a stab at it.
Going back a few months, I was played a very interesting story done by NPR on a program titled "This American Life." Ira Glass takes the listener through the very interesting, complex story of the mortgage crisis and, thus, the economic free-fall.
There are a few points I would like to make regarding this story. NPR's piece ran in May of this year. The first primetime coverage by MSNBC was not until late August at the earliest. Beyond that delay, comparing the information provided is laughable. MSNBC and others all seem to use the same guidelines in their choice of visuals. While attempting to convey the information in what we can only assume is supposed to be a user friendly way, the program begins to feel like it's aimed at the "under 5" demographic. Living in the time of facebook and one click shopping, we have become a generation of unblinking, ADD, videogamers. (This coming from someone with diagnosed ADHD.) NPR doesn't have the temptation to ustilize those silly cartoon visuals. Done in audio only, they rely on clear, conscise, story-telling style where the facts have to be solid and in the right places or the program will collapse in on itself.
Now, as for those actual facts... Once the primetime guys FINALLY heard the news and decided to pass it on to the rest of us, they still couldn't get the information out. Despite their best efforts of cartoons, animated mailboxes, and bad guy/good guy charicatures, the information still remained buried. It was well into September when a very intelligent and respected professor exclaimed in frustration, "We still don't know what caused this!" The general public believes it has all the facts and is well-informed when really, it is being treated like a child who feels like it's a big kid being treated as an adult, eating up the crap baby food it's being fed with a complacent smile on its face.
The question I am asking to myself and to you, if you feel like answering it, is:
Can we put a stop to a viscious cycle that we're not even aware of?
3 comments:
I listened to the NPR podcast about the economy (Giant Pool of Money I think it was called?) and was shocked to discover it aired back in May! Back in May I had no idea that our economy was in the middle of a housing morgage crisis.
The fact is, we don't have the resources to scout out the news. it is the job of journalists and news publications to find the stories for us! Why was NPR the only station that saw the writing on the wall?
I think that some of those other news stations/publications were simply preoccupied with other stories they thought would catch the public's attention.
Becca, thank you for your comment--I have to say that I agree with what you said. It is sad, frustrating and kind of confusing. But you're right, it's just the way things are that the real news often falls through the cracks just because of a lack of resources.
Touche'! (Or should I say, "Touchy!"....hehe...) Your dang right and it's always very frustrating. As the Egyptians say, Truth is everything you know, plus everything you don't know.
Can I just say, I called this crisis!!?? My first clue was the Mortgage industry agressively marketing what they called "Exotic loans".....hmmmmm. That, of course, was referring to these loans that required nothing down for people with less than perfect credit. Let's use a little common sense people!
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