WHERE ARE HUNTLEY AND BRINKLEY WHEN YOU NEED THEM?

I've come to a painful realization. Basically, I've concluded, and I believe correctly so, that the world I grew up in has changed dramatically. "Duh," you might be saying, and I would applaud your having said that. I suppose there have been so many dramatic changes that my statement is somewhat of a no-brainer, but I'm referring to one particular aspect of the world.
Having worked for newspapers, magazines, and radio stations, I've always been particularly interested in news and news gathering. I was never a Pulitzer winning type of guy, but I think I recognize true journalism when I see it. The problem is, I rarely see it anymore.
What we have today is a National Enquirer world of journalism, and, in saying that, I may be doing a disservice to the National Enquirer. I'm guessing that there are some so-called journalists (sometimes pronounced "bloggers" or simply "morons) who probably think the National Enquirer is one of the nation's most erudite publications.
But, what used to be laughed at as inane, asanine, and imbecilic, is, today, the stuff of Fox News Alerts. I'm not picking on Fox, all of the news networks do it. Just look at the hours and hours of coverage CNN devoted to the death of Michael Jackson.
Sensationalism is the order of the day. Remember the old adage (or whatever you call those things) that "Dog bites man" is not a story, but "man bites dog" would be? Today it's not a story unless either the man or the dog chewed the other's leg off, and then disgourged it whole on camera. And then the victim, man or dog, would have a camera shoved in front of his/its face and he would proceed to weep bitterly about how losing his leg was such a crime and evidence of discrimination of some sort or another. I've even seen hurricanes and tornadoes accused of bigotry.
The only good story these days is one that can completely humiliate at least one person, even if that person (or maybe, especially if that person) is too stupid to realize that he/she has been humiliated. Today's journalists are really more opinion givers, and 99% of the time their opinion is centered around how horrible someone else is.
It's true, celebrities, athletes, and politicians provide enough ammunition for some really juicy stories, but progressively, the news gatherers find new and more interesting ways to juice up even the already pretty juicy stories. And once they get all that juice flowing they keep it flowing for days and days, or until a juicier story comes along.
Here's just one example - Farah Fawcett's battle with cancer and her relationship with Ryan O'Neil and their junkie son were big stories up until a few short hours after she died. I'm sure the media could and would have continued to milk those stories for days afterwards, except for one thing. Michael Jackson died that same day.
Immediately, no one cared about Farah anymore. I'm guessing even Ryan O'Neil was on the phone with Jesse Jackson (the sixth Jackson brother) in an effort to see how he could get some face time at the hospital or the morgue or the eighteen-hour tribute memorial or wherever.
Of course that's just one small example. It's a pattern that could contribute to the eventual, total downfall of life as we know it.
Presidents, and other politicians, have always had their detractors, but today, no human on earth will be able to succeed in office. The media is intent on destroying them. It doesn't matter if it's Bush or Obama or whomever, there will be opponents to tell you how horrible they are and polls to prove how horrible the public thinks they are.
The only thing that can keep the politicians and their scandals and other nefarious deeds off the airwaves is if celebrities keep dying. So with the fodder the politicans are producing, my suggestion is that they come up with a way to kill at least one celebrity a day. That may sound a bit far-fetched, but I'm already wondering if Nancy Grace doesn't have someone on her payroll kidnapping children.
Reporting the news has become dirty business in a dirty world. And mark my word, on the day the world comes to an end, there will be some reporter somewhere telling you that God is a Nazi.