Commentary on "the news" - or what passes for such today.

I have no objective way to prove it, but as a news consumer of about 40 years, who has watched the steady deterioration of journalistic standards, it's my opinion that about 95% of what's broadcast on the so-called "news" channels today is anything but news.

Gossip, yes.  Speculation, yes.  Opinion, yes.  Exaggeration, yes.  And, unfortunately, not a small element of misinformation, disinformation and unverified, questionable content.

I blame the advent of the 24-hour news channel (of whatever stripe) for the abominable state of disrepute, disrespect and distrust that journalism has come to.  When you have to fill 24 hours of the day, 7 days a week with news, and when your ad revenues will not support the high cost of real investigative journalism, something has to give when you have to expand 2 minutes of fact to fill a 7-minute segment, and that something has led to the creation of pseudo-news.

Whether you watch CNN, MSNBC or Fox, if you pay attention to what you're watching, you'll notice that most of it consists of "anchors" interviewing paid gossips (called "analysts" to cover the reality).

We used to call such people "kibitzers", "back-benchers" and "Monday-morning quarterbacks."  There is an entire industry of so-called "political observers" who get paid to comment on things that they actually have no more information than your local street-sweeper or garbage man.

The only purpose, of course, is to provide a framework for selling commercials.   And I mean lots and LOTS of commercials.  If you pay attention to what looks like news, you'll see that there's been little or no investment in real journalistic fact-gathering, and lots and LOTS of commercials.  

What's laughingly called a "news segment" is nothing more than the space between commercials.

A look at the "segment teases" on the way to commercial will be enough to convince you of this.  And on Fox, there's the constant "News Alert" which is not an alert of any sort, and which has only one purpose, to bring you back to the TV in case you stepped away for a bathroom break.

Beyond the advent of the 24-hour news channel which has to fill up a gallon jug with a thimble-full of news, I also blame the viewing public, who don't seem to be able to distinguish between real news (the reporting of facts) and pseudo-news (the gossip about whatever). 

Why is Shepard Smith conversing with Chris Wallace, who jointly opine (without offering any facts) that so-and-so is lying about such-and-such?  Or that such and such a bill will or will not pass the Senate?  Why is Sean Hannity interviewing Laura Ingraham, during which both agree that the treatment of President Trump has been unfair?  Why is Cooper Anderson interviewing George Stephanopolous about the Mueller investigation, when neither one knows the first thing about it?

Folks, THIS IS NOT NEWS...IT IS NOTHING BUT UNMITIGATED GOSSIP WHICH FILLS TIME, SAVES THE NETWORK MONEY FROM HAVING TO DO REAL JOURNIASM, AND SELLS COMMERCIALS - and every one of us SHOULD DEMAND BETTER.  The problem is, we don't even realize that we're being sold counterfeit goods.

I mean, after all - it LOOKS like news, right?  The audio stings, the news set, the talking head, etc.  

Well, it isn't news, or at least 95% of it isn't news.  It's GARBAGE. 

Nor is this merely a benign deception.  I read comments on this forum, and I see the impact.  I see the lack of discernment.  I see the tendency to watch (and believe) whichever channel agrees with your world view.  I see the corrosion of intellectual objectivity.  I see the lowering of standards and the easy acceptance of the garbage served up with sufficient "news ambience" sauce to hide the stench.  Like a meal served up in a French restaurant - all ambience, accents, and a tiny serving of food, we buy into it..and tell all our friends how great it was.  

Don't come here and quote any "news" source to me unless you can show objectively why I should believe it, or that there's been even an ounce of true, professional journalism that has verified the facts behind the story.

Don't bother me with crap.  Don't come here with yet another reverberation of the echo chamber of noise.  

More to the point, don't fill your own head with this journalistic feces either. Because once you're full of it, and I'm afraid some of us are at that point, even Roto-Rooter will never clean your pipes.