What is news worthy?

[veronak]

Warning this is a rant.

I was wondering what every one or how every one feels about the news that is currently being reported. Don’t get me wrong I do feel bad about Anna Nicole Smith but does it really deserve 24/7 news coverage?

I think the news is more caught up with "soap opera/celebrity news" than real news, like changes in health care that can affect everyone, taxes, schools etcetera etcetera

So my question is what do you think is news worthy?

[Snoopy2645]

I dont understand either its on 24/7 here every channel I am not suprised the last time maybe 2 days ago ET showed a pic of her she looked bad not sure if it was cause of the death of her son or what but isnt it strange him & now her its almost too weird.

[PRICEPLUS]

Whatever draws viewers is what they will run. It is a business decision plain and simple!

[tinapbeana]

perhaps just me, but i think 'news' is anything that could actually have an effect on a portion of the general public. pretty simple distinction, but buy this standard the bulk of what's on any new show doesn't always qualify as news.

that's why i listen to NPR radio. pretty much actual news, and i tend to find their 'human interest' stories actually interesting. as opposed to the anna nicole smith human interest on the national stations, or the kitty in a tree human interest on my local stations.

[MonkeyMama]

I don't think hardly any news on the tv is news worthy in the least. IT's a joke. Just the same old same old really...

[Aleta]

I suppose it's just a tragedy for someone that young to die. I agree that enought is enough. There are a lot of people now that were in the news before and would have been there today except for the death of Anna Nicole Smith. Namely, Ms. Pelosi and the jet deal. That would have been played over and over and over.

The fact that we're talking about this shows how we are all affected somehow by this news. I sort of made a decision this year to start turning the TV off when I knew it was enough. It's too easy to get sucked into it. I refuse to watch the trials on TV because you can't miss a day. I also have decided that I don't want to listen to anything that doesn't make me feel better or at least that it was worthy to watch because of the content.

[Gruntina]

Anna Nicole Smith is a very public person. I do not agree her life contributed to the community in a positive way but she made her life very well known to the public. But that is how she set up her life and it makes sense why some people are widespread on the news more than others.

I don't watch TV anymore but I do occasionally go through the online news from time to time.

I think its great that we have more selections of what we want to listen to or watch.

[jodi]

My somewhat related gripe would be the massive amounts of coverage that sports receive. Our hometown newspaper's sports section is bigger (and more frequently read) than any other section (or sometimes bigger than other sections combined!). I can't blame the media because they have to put out what people want...but I do think it's a sad state of affairs that people prize sports more than news, community events, etc.
(please don't take this as a rant against sports - I have no problem there. I just think there are a lot of other things that deserve the attention and praise that sports receive in today's society...ditto could be said for celebrity gossip).

I love love love NPR. I haven't listened to any other radio station since I started listening to NPR a year or two ago.

[disneysteve]

I find that I pay less and less attention to the news because less and less of what they report on has any relevance to my life.

I agree with Gruntina that, at least to some extent, Anna Nicole's story is news since she was a public figure, for better or worse, though I still think the coverage is excessive.

I get a bit annoyed when my local news spends an inordinate amount of time discussing something that happened far from our area and really is of no great significance to our region. For example, they will report on a school bus accident somewhere on the west coast (we're in NJ). Certainly, it is a tragic event and likely had a profound effect on the local community, but why is it news in NJ?

I also hate when the news media tries for any possible angle to a story including interviews with people who are fairly distant to the actual story. "Here's a live interview with the brother-in-law of the neighbor of the guy whose wife was killed."

[Fern]

It's all about the ratings. Our local networks cover the following:
1. Fires
2. Murders, stabbings or pedofiles moving next door
3. The Weather
4. Abused animal stories
Remember, TV, as a national medium, must speak to the lowest common denominator, and that seems to be, well, pretty basic. What they lack is the will to produce in-depth thought pieces that take a local event and cover the broader implications.

[sweeps]

I bet the astronaut accused of attempted murder was happy that she was no longer the top story.

[vsjhoc]

Originally Posted by sweeps

I bet the astronaut accused of attempted murder was happy that she was no longer the top story.

LOL

[david909]

I hardly watch the news on TV any more. It just makes you brain dead.

[Broken Arrow]

Originally Posted by david909

I hardly watch the news on TV any more. It just makes you brain dead.

I don't know if it's true or not, but I read a somewhere that it takes less calories and requires less brain activities to watch TV than sleeping.

[PrincessPerky]

The last time I suffered thru the news I saw a 'teaser' on a fire, a note on violent something or other in a local school, the weather, repeat 5 times to fill 30 minutes..with most of it being 'when we come back we'll tell you the weather and about the fire, oh and which school this time had a lockdown......

I am not sure they ever got around to actually telling me about the fire and school...though I did find out the weather.....

For the most part I get ,y news from...Digg

[sweeps]

"Special report... Your family is in IMMEDIATE DANGER!! Full story tonight on the 11 o'clock news."

[Broken Arrow]

Originally Posted by sweeps

"Special report... Your family is in IMMEDIATE DANGER!! Full story tonight on the 11 o'clock news."

HAHHAHA!

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by sweeps

"Special report... Your family is in IMMEDIATE DANGER!! Full story tonight on the 11 o'clock news."

I've seen more than one commercial like that. A couple of times it was an announcement of a product or drug recall. Pretty irresponsible of them to not give the info immediately. They could put a ticker on the bottom of the screen or do an insert frame.

[PRICEPLUS]

News? The bottom line is to draw viewers for the advertisers!

[veronak]

Originally Posted by PrincessPerky

The last time I suffered thru the news I saw a 'teaser' on a fire, a note on violent something or other in a local school, the weather, repeat 5 times to fill 30 minutes..with most of it being 'when we come back we'll tell you the weather and about the fire, oh and which school this time had a lockdown......

I am not sure they ever got around to actually telling me about the fire and school...though I did find out the weather.....

For the most part I get ,y news from...Digg

Funny when I read this I thought you know you're, everthing you mentioned except for the teaser was on the news tonight