I hear very frequently some news anchor saying that "This news is coming up right after a short break and you don't want to miss this". First, the break is not short and secondly, how does he/she know that I don't want to miss this?
Remember the days when news was just news and anchors just gave us the news and not their opinion. Today, every news anchor or correspondent is an analyst. And thinks that he/she is a much better analyst than the one on the other news channel. If it had just stopped at this, I wouldnt be concerned and would not write a blog.
My concern is that news channels today don't just give the news or the public opinion, they form the public opinion. A news that should take 2 minutes will be followed by a 10 minute analysis. Sometimes analysis is done by informed people but more often than not its done by someone who just wants lime-light or who is very animated and people will love to see him. These days news channels are 24 hours on and there is not enough news.
And second, and more importantly, we as listeners have stopped to process this information and think. Thats why news channel are able to form public opinions. An example would be --- President's approval rating is above 60% some 5 months back, now its 30%, lowest ever for his term. What is the source of this information? How many people took this survey? Why do we believe that the President was good earlier and now he is not or for that matter why should we believe that 60% approval rating means he was doing great earlier? Even if the news channel is able to provide answers to these questions, isn't the right thing to do would be to filter out the news from "news + analysis" and think and decide for yourself what the President has done and does his work makes sense to you?
Lastly, for a news channel or an anchor or a correspondent, I dont think that news is very important anymore. Its all about those individuals. In an Anderson Cooper 360 show, you would hear Anderson Cooper much more than the "breaking news" he is providing you. A typical news segment will go like this:
News Anchor Jane: This news is brought to you live by our chief correspondent John Doe, who is on the site of the scene himself. Remember, channel ANX brought you the story first. Over to you John Doe.
John Doe: This is John Doe and here in Mobile, Alabama a fire has broken out in a forest and the city of Mobile is just 50 miles away from the cite of accident. Firefighters are trying hard to contain the fire. No life is in danger. The chief of fire department has said that fire would be contained in the next 2 hours and there is no reason to worry.
John Doe doing analysis: The question here is why this fire started? Is this arson? Is this because of climate-change? We have here with us Mr ABC to discuss this fire. -- a 5 minute analysis will follow.
Later John Doe signs off: This was John Doe providing you the first video footage of the fire only on ANX. Back to you Jane.
News Anchor Jane: You just saw the first visuals of this fire in Alabama from John Doe only on ANX. This is Jane at the top of the hour and ahead the great story of a missing cat. You dont want to miss this.
