03.25.06
Posted in culture at 10:09 pm by Brandon
If you live around the Grand Rapids area, like I do, it only takes a passing glance at the local news to realize that we live in a town where not much happens. Most of the time, I’m okay with that. I’d rather have the news occupied with stories about school millage elections than local murders. However, while I’m entirely happy to live in a relatively sleepy little town, I must admit that the local news can be a bit maddening.
Lately, there’s been a bit of a “to-do” in the local press about a (drumroll please) mystery development in the downtown area. A few weeks ago intrepid reporter Suzanne Geha decided she needed a story so she decided to sensationalize one. It turns out that there is a developer buying up some Grand Rapids riverfront property. So, a few weeks ago, our roving investigator Suzanne decided she’d do a little journalism.
Suzi tracked down a real estate representative handling the purchasing of the downtown property, and what did she find out? Nothing much.
Now for a normal journalist, this could’ve been a dead end, but not for Suzanne Geha. Oh no, Suzanne pressed on. She found out that by sensationalizing the story, 24 hour News 8 may actually be jeopardizing the development project by sharply driving up the property values. This project that may be bringing in the neighborhood of 10,000 permanent jobs to the community. Some reporters with weaker stomachs might have cared, but not Suzanne.
Suzanne has now been covering this story, recording sound bites advertizing a “MYSTERY DEVELOPMENT!!!!”, for the past month now. After a number of newscasts, each one revealing that we know very little about the aforementioned mystery development, we know just about as much about as much as we knew before we started watching. I admit, this little news scoop hasn’t kept me transfixed.
But, watching this little news drama play out, I realized something: The local news sucks the shit straight out of my ass. More than just being frustrated with this particular story, though, I suppose I’m infuriated that the complete absence of a story such as this one is judged more important by a news agency than, you know, people dying from genocide or any other manner of inconsequential things.
The fact that this “mystery development” gets top billing locally, while issues like the fact that Grand Rapids is one of the top 5 most racially segregated cities in the country go largely unknown at large is a travesty. The local news does a disgusting disservice to the community by sensationalizing completely unsensational events while ignoring really important news.
And so, this plea goes out to the news desk at WOOD TV 8: Please stop. Please, please stop reporting on this pseudo-news story. Nobody cares about whether or not some unknown developer is buying up land in Grand Rapids. Get a clue about what exactly “news” actually is, and start reporting on that. I’d suggest a story about disproportionate infant mortality rates for African Americans in West Michigan…and this time, try reporting on more than just the fact that the infant mortality rates between whites and blacks aren’t equal.
People don’t need to hear about some stupid development, in fact, I’d go so far as to say that nobody really cares. If you want to report on exciting news, go about it the old fashioned way and wait until things actually happen, THEN report it. It’s a novel concept, I know, but I think it just might work.
Tags: Suzanne Geha, Mystery Development
Permalink
Trackback URL »
http://www.badchristian.com/2006/03/25/the-complete-and-utter-absence-of-news/trackback/
Posted in culture at 10:09 pm by Brandon
If you live around the Grand Rapids area, like I do, it only takes a passing glance at the local news to realize that we live in a town where not much happens. Most of the time, I’m okay with that. I’d rather have the news occupied with stories about school millage elections than local murders. However, while I’m entirely happy to live in a relatively sleepy little town, I must admit that the local news can be a bit maddening.
Lately, there’s been a bit of a “to-do” in the local press about a (drumroll please) mystery development in the downtown area. A few weeks ago intrepid reporter Suzanne Geha decided she needed a story so she decided to sensationalize one. It turns out that there is a developer buying up some Grand Rapids riverfront property. So, a few weeks ago, our roving investigator Suzanne decided she’d do a little journalism.
Suzi tracked down a real estate representative handling the purchasing of the downtown property, and what did she find out? Nothing much.
Now for a normal journalist, this could’ve been a dead end, but not for Suzanne Geha. Oh no, Suzanne pressed on. She found out that by sensationalizing the story, 24 hour News 8 may actually be jeopardizing the development project by sharply driving up the property values. This project that may be bringing in the neighborhood of 10,000 permanent jobs to the community. Some reporters with weaker stomachs might have cared, but not Suzanne.
Suzanne has now been covering this story, recording sound bites advertizing a “MYSTERY DEVELOPMENT!!!!”, for the past month now. After a number of newscasts, each one revealing that we know very little about the aforementioned mystery development, we know just about as much about as much as we knew before we started watching. I admit, this little news scoop hasn’t kept me transfixed.
But, watching this little news drama play out, I realized something: The local news sucks the shit straight out of my ass. More than just being frustrated with this particular story, though, I suppose I’m infuriated that the complete absence of a story such as this one is judged more important by a news agency than, you know, people dying from genocide or any other manner of inconsequential things.
The fact that this “mystery development” gets top billing locally, while issues like the fact that Grand Rapids is one of the top 5 most racially segregated cities in the country go largely unknown at large is a travesty. The local news does a disgusting disservice to the community by sensationalizing completely unsensational events while ignoring really important news.
And so, this plea goes out to the news desk at WOOD TV 8: Please stop. Please, please stop reporting on this pseudo-news story. Nobody cares about whether or not some unknown developer is buying up land in Grand Rapids. Get a clue about what exactly “news” actually is, and start reporting on that. I’d suggest a story about disproportionate infant mortality rates for African Americans in West Michigan…and this time, try reporting on more than just the fact that the infant mortality rates between whites and blacks aren’t equal.
People don’t need to hear about some stupid development, in fact, I’d go so far as to say that nobody really cares. If you want to report on exciting news, go about it the old fashioned way and wait until things actually happen, THEN report it. It’s a novel concept, I know, but I think it just might work.
Tags: Suzanne Geha, Mystery Development
Permalink
Trackback URL »
http://www.badchristian.com/2006/03/25/the-complete-and-utter-absence-of-news/trackback/
Dan Lewis said,
March 26, 2006 at 10:14 pm
This reminds me of a local story in Utah, last May. A rock rolled down a hill and hit an unoccupied house in Provo (home of BYU). That night, several TV news crews led with it as the top story. At least two of the crews went out live to the rock.
But if you think that’s bad, just imagine weekly human interest puff pieces on good LDS families and wards.
benjamin said,
March 26, 2006 at 11:10 pm
Luckily, most people here have no idea what the difference is between a ward and a stake, and will go on living a life of happy ignorance…
Black Sheep said,
March 27, 2006 at 7:33 am
As a fellow Grand Rapidian - AMEN!
dougb said,
March 27, 2006 at 11:11 am
Do i ever miss 24 Hours News 8… How can you call GR sleepy? There’s at least three Minor-League sports teams all playing at sub-standard levels of athletisicm, um, the river grand, ah, overpriced downtown beer, mmm, no real college scene to speak of, gee, and… oh! A gazillion churches!
My highschool soccer team had to play against Suzzane Geha’s son on the East Grand Rapids HS team, and she came to watch the rich bastards kick our collective backwater asses. Thats about all i can say about that.
Is Miranda w/ Fox Pause or whatever still on tv with her crazy earings? That lady was the best pick-me-up ever!
Eric said,
March 28, 2006 at 8:48 am
Brandon - I agree that the “mystery development” story has been poorly reported (last night they ran some canned piece about the developer that provided absolutely NO value). And I do agree that there are plenty of other important stories to report on.
I do not agree, however, that “Grand Rapids is one of the top 5 most racially segregated cities in the country.” According to the “Racial Segregation in U.S. Metropoitain Areas and Cities, 1990 - 2000: Patterns, Trends, and Explainations” by the Polulation Studies Center at the University of Michigan (http://www.frey-demographer.org/reports/rr05-573.pdf) we’re not even in the top 20.
While I agree that there is plenty to do on the race relations front here in GR, I’m encouraged by the dialog that is happening. Having spent most of my life in the Detroit area, where segration is rampant and that seems to be the way everyone wants it, coming here has been refreshing.
Does racism exist in GR? Sure. Is it tollerated? Not by anyone that I’ve met. (Although obviously if it exists it is tollerated by some).
I’m working hard to make sure that my kids value every person the same, that they look beyond any phyisical attribute and get to know the person. I’m exposing my kids to different cultures so that they understand and value diversity. Hopefully if enough people do things like this, racism will only exist in history books.
As wonderful as that sounds though, as racism has existed since the Tower of Babel, I don’t expect that to be a reality on this earth, unfortunately.
Maria said,
March 28, 2006 at 12:01 pm
Oh Suzi yee-haw. Perhaps it’s the loss of Tom Van How’s my hair that’s thrown her off the deep end. Perhaps she feels that her job’s in jeapordy and so she needs to prove her worth to the station.
Or she’s just crazy…I think that’s most likely the truth!
Joe said,
March 28, 2006 at 12:11 pm
The worst offense, and you’ve described it here, but it’s this typical habit local news channels have of elongating simple news stories into elaborate tales of fascination and shock!
I watched a report from a local Utah channel that turned the following news headline into a 10 minute report with every cliche a news anchor could possibly have.
Two guys were arrested for buying hallucinagenic mushrooms disguised as caramel candies. Police are still trying to arrest the person who sold and mailed them. He lives in California.
Instead they had to be like
“There was more to it than just sweet confectioner sugar!!! This innocent treat was turned into an illegal substance, but was nearly undetectable by local authorities for months! And just what was the secret hiding inside this concocted sweet? Illegal hallucinigenic mushrooms, known on the streets as just ’shrooms’!
And it went on like this for an incredible 9 and a half minutes.
There’s a reason I don’t own or watch television anymore, and the fact that the news is no longer the voice of the downtrodden and oppressed is one of those reasons. Now it’s a bullhorn for parent corporations and a sedative for the overweight and apathetic middle class.
Leighton said,
March 28, 2006 at 3:21 pm
When was the news ever the voice of the downtrodden or oppressed? Local news (aka gossip) has always been the norm, except when there was some cause or other that people in power thought their underlings ought to care about (splitting with England or the Red Scare, for instance, the remainder of international “news” tending to solidify existing cultural prejudices rather than actually investigating things)–by virtue of what most folks consider news, the “independent” corporate media has almost always supported the causes of those already established. (When you’re a for-profit corporation, your most important consideration pretty quickly becomes your investors and anyone with money to throw around.)
It’s a problem, sure, but I don’t think we ought to act like we’re shocked (shocked!) as though this is something even a little bit new–and I ask the question from time to time, seriously, who reads the papers or watches the news anymore? And if so, why? Keeping up with what other folks “know” is a totally defensible reason, but you can’t get, well, news, in the sense of everything that it’s important and timely for us to know…and it’s been that way ever since newspeople first started plying their trade. Part of the problem is that newswriting must depend on its readership being basically informed and careful about checking sources and able to follow basic cause-and-effect arguments and not confuse correlation with causation, ad infinitum (otherwise you’d be trying to publish a monograph in every article and the readers wouldn’t put up with that even if the publishers would), and the other part of the problem is that newspeople of late have not themselves been careful about these very things–in times of crisis (real or manufactured) this tends to be the case, plus this administration is very good at spin, and their dutiful reporters very good at repeating their talking points while thinking it constitutes “fairness”–
The solution, I think, is to network and try to make sure people are informed about important things; complaining to big media won’t do much, except maybe if we vote with our wallets and ignore them, and I really don’t know what complaining to local news will do; it depends I suppose on who the owners and managers are and whether they have more invested in their principles than in their stock portfolios.
shelly said,
March 28, 2006 at 10:35 pm
Try living here in the wilds of Maine. I stopped watching local news years ago because, pretty much, all the top stories consist of one or more of the following…
* someone getting murdered
* someone on trial for murder, arson, robbery, or whatever
* some goings-on at a local school or church
Very exciting, I know.
benjamin said,
March 29, 2006 at 10:29 am
Well, I’m sure the murder thing was exciting for somebody….
Joe said,
March 29, 2006 at 8:17 pm
Of course I know it’s not something new. The news has been this way for a long time. There was a time, though, when newspapers were used to make the public think differently about the way their government operated, and about the wellbeing of their society as a whole.
Now, it’s all about keeping you locked away in your homes, where you’re safe(maybe not even there! news at 11!) so you won’t ever dare question why the richest of the rich get to tell us what we should see, hear, and know.