June Renew: Day 10
Weight: 233.4
Long ago, I had a news director who one could describe as “jaded.” He had no connection to anyone in the newsroom, nor the stories we put on air. While to some extent I understand emotional detachment in order to save one’s sanity in such a harrowing industry, this guy was on a whole different level with it. Every day was a struggle with anything we sent reporters out on. He just didn’t seem to care. And I guess it was enough for management because he was fired with absolutely no fanfare. One day in the middle of my shift, he just packed his stuff up and left. I vowed to never be like that as long as I had a career in journalism.
Unfortunately, now, I think things have flipped, and emotion is what drives the entire news cycle.
I’ve been in this industry long enough to know what constitutes a piece of news and what’s simply another person’s feelings. Approval ratings are news. The Treasury Secretary saying she was, quote, “wrong” about inflation is news. An assassination threat on a Supreme Court Justice is news. Spin is not. Unverified reports are not. Feelings and opinions are not. And what I’ve seen over the last better half of a decade is a major shift into putting feelings at the forefront and a play on the world’s emotions.
They want to make you feel a certain way about something so you can’t report how you think about it. It’s as though the mainstream just wants to grind an axe enough to dully chop away at your senses. What they feel is what rates, not what’s actually going on. It’s been a dog and pony show for so long that we’re missing the bigger picture. They inflate the minutiae and attempt to make you feel bad for not feeling the way they do. The January 6th Commission is a perfect example. A primetime slot of all bark and no bite. Trying to make a mountain out of a 45-minute cringe riot. But if you say that out loud, you’re thought of as heartless. Didn’t you hear the testimony of a Capitol Hill officer who said she “walked through blood?” First I’m hearing of that. Yet they play on it. Eleven networks covered it last night and all the morning shows did the exact same thing. Hammer the point, make people feel bad. Make them rowdy enough to hate whoever they say is responsible for it.
I’m tired of the emotional manipulation coming from all corners of the world. There’s a lot more insane shit going on, with a ton more coming that’s simply stuck on all the stalled cargo ships. I can’t convince others to see it my way, since it’s just a feeling. Just like people for four years said they only had a feeling Donald Trump was a confirmed Russian asset. There was never any proof. Just lies and feelings. And that’s not news. It’ll never be news. But it’ll be a cornerstone of our journalistic history that sure as shit masqueraded as such.
No, I’m not jaded. I’m maybe a little withdrawn, as I don’t want to get overly emotional at all the headlines. coming out. I’m trying to stay as grounded as I can, simply so I can tell the news and inform Americans as to what’s occurring in our country. I’ve got to set my standards in an industry that’s lost it along the way somehow. And we get there by telling the truth. Not just our truth. There’s a difference. I hope you can see it too.
Step one in all that? Turn it off for a while. You’ll thank me later. We’ll be right back.
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