Questioning
A Newspaper Is a Collection of Half-Injustices (Stephen Crane)
Posted 03-03-2009 at 10:02 AM by itSFMe
My roommate is subscribed to a national (read: kinda serious 
) newspaper, so in the weekend I read those editions. It is great to read the news with a bit more time for opinions and background - usually I just check the newssites and those I visit are mostly about bringing the news swiftly (and not always accurate 
). Then there's of course the free newspapers (Metro/Spits/Pers) which I grab at the station when I board the train to work. I often wonder how those can exist - only on advertising incomes?! I might believe that if there was just one kind, but we have at least 3 different ones! The information is often the same, though brought a bit differently 
And of course the evening/morning news (TV). I don't know if it's just me, but I walk away as soon as they try to "bring the news in a entertaining way". Even the national news isn't all facts anymore! Though it is a bit of a pet peeve, so I might just see things that aren't there
Point is, that lately I really distrust all sources of (news) information
Believe me, you don't wanna go there 
I often wonder "how can they check this", "is this fact or opinion?" or, most often, "why do they think I wanna know this". I mean, last week we had a plane crash at the national airport. Very tragic indeed, but why do they need to tell us that "the people in the arrival room are looking desolate and some are crying, many show their disbelief of what just happened". I mean, isn't that obvious? I didn't expect them to be uncaring or something! Their loved ones were on that plane...
Ow, I don't know - I can't really say what bothers me about the way news is brought to us. In a way, knowing people care that much and are very sad about it all is NEWS, it wasn't known before. ... I guess I just feel a bit like an intruder when they bring in the "human factor".
Journalism isn't easy, it is a difficult job to find the facts, when there isn't just one truth... I guess the problem has been there ever since the first paper came around.
A newspaper is a collection of half-injustices
Which, bawled by boys from mile to mile,
Spreads its curious opinion
To a million merciful and sneering men,
While families cuddle the joys of the fireside
When spurred by tale of dire lone agony.
A newspaper is a court
Where every one is kindly and unfairly tried
By a squalor of honest men.
A newspaper is a market
Where wisdom sells its freedom
And melons are crowned by the crowd.
A newspaper is a game
Where his error scores the player victory
While another's skill wins death.
A newspaper is a symbol;
It is feckless life's chronicle,
A collection of loud tales
Concentrating eternal stupidities,
That in remote ages lived unhaltered,
Roaming through a fenceless world.
Maybe I should just read The Truth (Terry Pratchett) again. At least it will make me laugh about it all
) newspaper, so in the weekend I read those editions. It is great to read the news with a bit more time for opinions and background - usually I just check the newssites and those I visit are mostly about bringing the news swiftly (and not always accurate ). Then there's of course the free newspapers (Metro/Spits/Pers) which I grab at the station when I board the train to work. I often wonder how those can exist - only on advertising incomes?! I might believe that if there was just one kind, but we have at least 3 different ones! The information is often the same, though brought a bit differently And of course the evening/morning news (TV). I don't know if it's just me, but I walk away as soon as they try to "bring the news in a entertaining way". Even the national news isn't all facts anymore! Though it is a bit of a pet peeve, so I might just see things that aren't there
Point is, that lately I really distrust all sources of (news) information
Believe me, you don't wanna go there I often wonder "how can they check this", "is this fact or opinion?" or, most often, "why do they think I wanna know this". I mean, last week we had a plane crash at the national airport. Very tragic indeed, but why do they need to tell us that "the people in the arrival room are looking desolate and some are crying, many show their disbelief of what just happened". I mean, isn't that obvious? I didn't expect them to be uncaring or something! Their loved ones were on that plane... Ow, I don't know - I can't really say what bothers me about the way news is brought to us. In a way, knowing people care that much and are very sad about it all is NEWS, it wasn't known before. ... I guess I just feel a bit like an intruder when they bring in the "human factor".
Journalism isn't easy, it is a difficult job to find the facts, when there isn't just one truth... I guess the problem has been there ever since the first paper came around.
A newspaper is a collection of half-injustices
Which, bawled by boys from mile to mile,
Spreads its curious opinion
To a million merciful and sneering men,
While families cuddle the joys of the fireside
When spurred by tale of dire lone agony.
A newspaper is a court
Where every one is kindly and unfairly tried
By a squalor of honest men.
A newspaper is a market
Where wisdom sells its freedom
And melons are crowned by the crowd.
A newspaper is a game
Where his error scores the player victory
While another's skill wins death.
A newspaper is a symbol;
It is feckless life's chronicle,
A collection of loud tales
Concentrating eternal stupidities,
That in remote ages lived unhaltered,
Roaming through a fenceless world.
Maybe I should just read The Truth (Terry Pratchett) again. At least it will make me laugh about it all
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