Spin spewers! a.k.a. "News"

So I watched the Iowa caucuses a few nights ago – a really interesting experience. I see that there are some areas in our extremely advanced society where we are still not taking advantage of technologies many efficiencies! But the system seemed to work for those Iowans, surprisingly enough. I even found myself feeling that a visit to Iowa might be in order!

I do have to put in a plug for CSPAN here – what a great resource for anyone with at least basic cable! They actually had the cameras at one of the caucus locations the whole night; so we were able to see what happens at a caucus, and then what happens afterwards – with the discussion of the resolutions to move forward to the county convention. That was very inspiring to see those dedicated citizens at work - the motivating discussions on social issues that occurred without judgement – where they shared their opinions and experiences, and approved motions to move some of the resolutions forward. It was clear that there are contributions that each of us can make just by making ourselves available to more of these forums, and bringing our experience and views to the discussion. It was truly encouraging to see the event in action – I’d recommend going to CSPAN to see it again if you haven’t.

So after the election results were announced for Iowa as a whole, I decided to listen to some of the other news organizations to see what they were saying. I flipped through the local news channels, as well as the traditional news sources, such as CNN, MSNBC, and could not believe the ‘spin’ that was being spewed forth! The reported results on the democratic side were Obama, then Edwards, then Clinton at 38, 30, and 29% respectively. Note that these are rounded numbers - they didn't even report this correctly. The true numbers were 37.58% for Obama, 29.75% for Edwards, and 29.47% for Clinton(source www.iowacaucusresults.com).

The hype is that Clinton “was the loser”, and that she lost miserably – that’s what you’ll hear most of the “journalists” and “experts” “reporting” – if you’d like to use that word! There is less than a half percent difference between Clinton and Edwards, for goodness sake! There is a 9% difference between Clinton and Obama who won!! That is not a trivial difference of course, but neither is it a showstopper! It was just interesting to see them spinning something into something it was not! And not just one of them – many of them were trying to sell the same ridiculousness! It didn’t stop there. They then tried to tell us what we would do next – based on what? Their own opinions! What happened to reporting based on historical facts or current facts – with SOURCE REFERENCES?!? If you are going to put forward your own opinion for news, at least back it up with some valid references and research! Even in college, you can’t write a paper purely based on your own rhetoric, and expect to get a passing grade!

I continue to lose respect for the media; their lack of supporting their news reports with facts and real sources; their continued preference for covering highly sensational entertainement news, over well researched and relevant current events has denigrated the authenticity of their reportings. And frankly, I find myself turning less and less to the commercial news sites and channels, and relying more on more publicly funded news sources such as NPR, PBS, and of course CSPAN where I was actually able to see the event for myself!

Are others aware of the new age spinners? It just seems to have become a way of life in many respects; whether you’re watching an ad on TV, or a news report – or even if you decide to watch put your brain on pause even longer and watch a reality TV show – everyone is trying to hide reality and give you their own “spin” of reality. The TV writers are on strike, but there seems to be a lot of fiction on TV!