The Problem With News These Days

This is a longer column than I usually like to link on my blog, but I love it. Here’s the highlights, in case you are like my students and would rather Sparknote Huck Finn than read it…

1. Apparently, a Louisiana audience booed when President Obama thanked Bobby Jindal (a Republican) for his attending the town hall meeting.

2. Obama then called out the audience for being hyper-partisan loser human beings.

3. Various news organizations picked up the story, only they each reported it differently–including altering or omitting the President’s chiding.

What follows is some commentary about the state of news, including this gem:

“The media spends far too much time trying to make the story rather than cover it. The plethora of platforms from which puny politicians and petty pundits can preach, prognosticate and prevaricate leave us with more noise and roto-tiller ads, and less enlightenment.

Tell the damn story the way that it happened.”

Amen, brother.

And really, you should read the whole column and not rely on my truncated version. Just like my students should read Huck Finn and not rely on Sparknotes.

2 thoughts on “The Problem With News These Days

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