Take a hike
By Joe Rector
I am a child of the television era. I remember the old days when we had a box television that was the approximate weight of a refrigerator. With a special antenna, viewers could receive three channels; Daddy refused to make such an extravagant purchase, so we only viewed CBS and NBC. Oh, I also remember that to change the channel one of us had to rise from our seats and actually turn a dial. The worst thing to me was that stations actually stopped broadcasting around midnight. Snow or an Indian chief’s profile filled the screen.
Over the years, I’ve maintained a love of television. Each year, I would find a couple of favorite programs and faithfully watch them each week. When those shows ran their courses and no longer aired, I grieved as if I’d lost good friends. Such interruptions to my weekly routine put me in a tailspin.
Cable television arrived and offered 24-hour programming. Finally, I could find something to watch, no matter how late in the night the hour was. When bouts with restless legs came, I sat many nights and watched cable news or some old movie on TCM. Many mornings found me still sitting on the couch. I was bleary-eyed and exhausted, but the television had saved me at least a bit of torment.
In modern times, I’m much older and wiser about television and its programming, especially the news. No more Walter Cronkites exist. Oh, some might quote him by saying, “And that’s the way it is.” However, the state of the world and our country depends more upon which station a person watches. Most Americans are smart enough to know which programming meets their biases. Yet, that is not a characteristic of the truth. In fact, most of us are constantly confused about what the truth is.
Cable news and network news are suspect in their reporting. News programs are the cheapest to produce and are the biggest income earners for companies. Ratings of those broadcasts decide which will have the largest bank accounts for their owners.
Believe it or not, breaking news doesn’t occur every minute of the day. One station begins each new program with such a claim, only to repeat the headlines from earlier shows. To keep the interests of viewers, stations bring on so-called “authorities” to substantiate their reporting. How difficult is it to find some “expert” to agree with the anchor?
After this last election, I’ve sworn off watching the news, regardless of which station or political leaning is pushed. I worry about this country and the messes that exist, but I don’t see any solutions to them coming from newscasts. One side always praises the way America is running, while the other bashes the leaders who make the decisions. At this later stage in my life, I simply care little. The truth is in short supply from both political sides, and my decision is to live my remaining years without having some anchorman jerk my chain and send me into a worrying frenzy. I’ll keep up with major events through other means such as newspapers and reliable sources whom I respect. The television news industry can take a hike. Until the second coming of Walter occurs or some other dependable person takes to the airwaves, I’ll push the off button on the news and tune in to YouTube for some laughs.
