The News Is Irrelevant

Before it is even brought up, the title of this ramble is not referring to “fake news.” That is a buzz phrase that I wish would exit the zeitgeist. News is not “fake” at any time. It may be uninformed, it may be misguided, but it cannot be “fake.” The fact that someone took the time to gather any information and spread it makes it real. However, news can be irrelevant. It can be completely unrelated to anything anyone wants to know, and it can also be something that is completely useless to tell. In the old days these sorts of news stories were referred to as “puff pieces.” Bits of news or even entire stories that were simply used to fill the airtime as there was not enough relevant news to talk about. It was “fluff” in between important stories. Things like a dog learning to ride a skateboard, or a child hugging their mailman. This was all well and nice to have a feel-good moment when most of the other news was probably either weather or crisis. Currently, this is exactly the way news works. There is great drama and danger and negativity, then a “puff piece,” and then back to more drama and negative news. What ends up making news irrelevant is when there is so much fluff because news stations want to spread positivity that it is more like watching an episode of America’s Funniest Videos than it is watching the news. There is so much unimportant rabble in the news that we end up only watching the weather section. By no means am I saying this is a bad thing inherently, but there is a point where the viewers want actual news that means something to our day to day lives so that we can be informed. Otherwise, we will ask Google what happened yesterday and then tune over and watch our sitcoms while the news tries to be one. But that is just one man’s opinion. Thanks for listening to me ramble. I appreciate it. See you next time.