Gravity

Boy, some people just have to criticize, don't they? All you hear these days is that the media is biased and that most news has become just entertainment, a lot of fluff with very little substance. I beg to differ.

For example, my local TV station started a series last night about fashion, where the fashion police "arrested" the news anchor and rushed her away to get a makeover. Now, what could be more important than looking good if you have to be on TV every night? Nobody wants to watch a poorly dressed person deliver the news, do they? Just think how much more effective Walter Cronkite would have been if he had been properly monitored for fashion faux pax. When he looked into the camera and told the world that the Eagle had landed (or did it?), it just could have been so much better if he had done something with that hair and picked a more appropriate tie. Poor Walter, he missed so much by retiring before he could be educated properly.

Today's local anchors would certainly have handled it differently.

Holly: (the female anchorperson wearing a see through facsimile of the NASA spacesuit): "Gee Dan, the moon really does look like cheese, doesn't it?
Dan: (the male and brunet version of Holly): Sure does, Holly. I've always heard that, and it's great to find out it's true.
Holly: Speaking of cheese, Dan it's, time for another commercial. I hate to break away when they're just touching down, but you know, we have bills to pay here at the station.
Dan: Ha, ha, ha (he laughs uproariously), yes I've always heard that, and it's great to find out it's true.

On and on they go, two wacky newscasters bringing a bit of entertainment and fun to an otherwise pretty drab proceeding. It's unfortunate that Dan and Holly weren't around when Walter and Jules and Huntley and Brinkley were telling the world in their own unremarkable way about that historic moment. They could have really spiced it up, don't you think?

Well, I hope I've made my point and perhaps deflected some of the criticism about today's news media and those dedicated people who work in it. I would write more but I've got to run home. I don't want to miss tonight's touching story about "Wrestling School" an educational institution dedicated to turning out the best and brightest professional wrestlers.

I rest my case.

by Dennis Welch