by Roberto Alvarez-Galloso

Created on: March 04, 2009

The question is not whether Dan Rather was right in accusing Katie Couric of dumbing down and tarting up the news. The question is whether the Mainstream Media in the United States of America is dumbed down and tarted up to begin with.

Before continuing with the comments, I would like to remind people of how KLAS TV Reporter Polly Gonzalez once confronted Dan Rather on the lack of minorities in US Mainstream Media.

While Dan Rather was right in his accusations, he has no right in accusing Katie Couric since most of the people in the US Mainstream Media have been doing it for a long time. What are the examples.

Instead of allowing Libertarians and Greens to participate in serious political debates, it appears that the US Mainstream Media was more concerned with the amount of clothes used by Alaska Governor Sarah Palin when she was the Vice Presidential Nominee of the Republican Party during the 2008 Elections.

There have been other examples such as the publicity given to American Idol, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, and how some Radio and TV Presenters have made themselves look like total fools for their presentation style. We also have one presenter who sniffed her own armpits while giving the news.

Antonia Zerbisias wrote in the Toronto Star about the comments of BBC Reporter Michael Buerk. Mr. Buerk commented about the men and women who report from their hotel room where the news was given instead of where the action is. He has repeatedly said that a "dumbed down news" would lead to a "flawed" democracy because of ill informed people being unable to make a choice.

Mr. Buerk also referred to the how today's journalists have become the "cult of celebrity" with their every moves detected even by the gossip columnists. The words described by Mr. Buerk for the news of today's Western World is coarser, shallower, insensitive, inaccurate, and more trivial with each passing year".

It is a shame that the West including the United States of America supposedly is one of the greatest powers of the world yet the media does not reflect that. In fact, the media has played a part in discrediting the United States of America before its very eyes.

I have often said that if people wanted serious news, they can go to CRI [China Radio International], VOR [Voice of Russia], Press TV, Radio Prague, Radio Polonia, Vatican Radio, KBS [Korean Broadcasting Corporation], Liberty News Network [Libertarian Party of America], Merinews, and IRIB [Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting].

If I want a news that is dumbed down or comedy, CNN as well as CBS and ABC would do wonders.

Reference:

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0301-29.htm

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