Newsworthy?

Unlike what seems like a large percentage of the population, I am tragically aware of the motives and driving forces behind the news and what makes the final cut on such respectable programs as “Fox Five News at 9.” However, the line, “the People determine what is Newsworthy” certainly has to have its limits. I know the News is driven the same way any entertainment or media production is, by what people are willing to give their attention to, but certainly there must be a line drawn. The reason I say this, what has led me to this realization, is that yesterday as I was innocently flipping through the channels, and then again as I perused some online news sources there was one incredibly meaningless and miniscule story that seemed to be grabbing all the “headlines.” PARIS HILTON BACK IN CUSTODY, PARIS HILTON BREAKS DOWN WANTS MOMMY, PARIS HILTON NEEDS PSYCHOLOGICAL HELP. Here’s some news for you, I DON’T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT PARIS HILTON, especially when compared to the much more pertinent and important news and events that are currently transpiring on our FUBAR planet. Now I know this is only adding more attention to this media hungry publicity whore who apparently can’t afford to take a DUI class or stop drinking and driving, however I feel there comes a time where the news stations have to take the power away from the people to an extent and make conscious decisions on what we need to be worrying about as Americans and as citizens of our increasingly ravaged planet. I mean this is the same public that elected George W. Bush not once but twice to the most powerful and formerly most respectable position on Earth. Is it really wise to think they have the collective mental capacity to decide what’s newsworthy, especially when they’re picking some rich socialite incarceration breakdown over wars in Iraq, floods in China, starvation in Africa, and a plethora of other extremely concerning stories. Maybe it’s that the American Public wants to ignore these stories, they’re far off, depressing, real. America seems to be consumed by Hollywood; its fantasy on and off the screen is a constant soap opera documented by paparazzi and soulless celebrity magazines. This is not the public’s fault alone that they are entranced by these flashing lights, they’re focus has been robbed from them. However in that same manner I feel the focus needs another shift. A shift to issues that may not be easy to have on our minds and may weigh us down a little more, but they are issues that, unlike Paris Hilton’s jail time, are grave in consequence and short on resolution. A knowledgeable public would make a more intelligent and savvy America and as a world leader it should be our responsibility to know about the happenings of the world, and not just our own fantasy land of celebrities and gossip.