by Lori Ronan

Created on: April 18, 2009   Last Updated: April 21, 2009

The two headlines read: "Child Murdered by Vicious Predator", and "Kids Give Charity Donations at Local Hospital". Which one are you going to read first?

Before you get offended by the choices, here is another example. You see a terrible accident on the side of the road; do you go slowly to see what happened? Further down the road a group of high school kids are picking up trash. Do you stop to thank them for their civic responsibility?

We are a violent society and the media only gives us what we ask for. It is human nature to want to know about the darker side of life. The "Good News" papers I see are all throwaways, but the Tabloids are center stage at the local market. Which one of us has not stopped to read a headline about Britney's bad behavior, or Madonna's divorce dilemma?

Tomorrow's headline in your local paper, "Obama has Lunch with Venezuelan President; Lamb and Rice was Superb. Not interested in reading that story, how about "American Troops in Iraq Enjoy Local Produce".

Many of the stories we choose to read affect us on a personal level. Parents want to know about local crime and how to protect their children. Children of elderly parents want to know about nursing home abuses. We want to know if our leaders are on the straight and narrow, and if not the headlines scream about their bad choices. Did the media make Clinton fool around with Lewinsky, or Elliot Spitzer seek the services of a prostitute, or Bernard Madoff defraud millions?

Maybe the stories are filled with sensationalism, but they do keep us informed. The public wants to know, has a right to know and is guaranteed by a free press. Would it be better to not be informed? To have State run new casts with happy little stories about what your government is doing for you. Happy news is propaganda in countries without a free press. We Americans get a choice of Keith Olbermann or Bill O'Reilly, The Washington Post or the Wall Street Journal. No one forces us to watch, read or critically think. The news is there for the taking- if it offends you, just slug down another Bud and play another round of eight-ball.

The media does not make the news. The economy is bad, the unemployment rate is bad, Wall Street and the banking industry are really bad. What is good is that we have choices and the freedom to openly speak up about these choices. I just read that a court in Spain is opening a criminal investigation against former Bush administration officials to determine whether they violated international law by torturing prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. That is great bad news!

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