Jun
11
An Open Letter to the Media
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Jason Henry asked:
Today was either a bad news day or a slow news day. OJ Simpson dominated the headlines and the top news stories. He was on CNN, CNN Headline News, ESPN, ESPN 2, Court TV, MSNBC, and Fox News. He may have been on more of the major networks; but I stopped counting. As most of you know, Mr. Simpson and few of his buddies barged into a hotel room in a Las Vegas casino and demanded that a sports memorabilia collector give back a picture of him and former President J. Edgar Hoover. According to Las Vegas police there were guns involved. However; the fine men and women of the Las Vegas police department have yet to recover said weapon. As a result of Mr. Simpson’s stupidity, he is being charged with 11 felony counts which include kidnapping and robbery.
Now before I proceed allow me to make this clear. I am in no way defending OJ Simpson. After his acquittal in 1995; he should have moved to a country in a far away land never to be heard from again. So in response to most major news networks having their “best and brightest” newscasters descend on Las Vegas for a simple hearing; I have decided to write an open letter to each station voicing my frustration. My dissatisfaction stems from years of biased news coverage, reporting on non news stories and my displeasure with their treatment of the Bush White House.
To Whom It May Concern,
My name is Jason Henry and I am a disgruntled viewer. On September 19, 2007, you decided to devote the majority of your news coverage to a hearing on OJ Simpson. While I understand this brings back memories of Mr. Simpson’s trial in 1995; your decision to give his hearing so much coverage troubles me. In a society that seems to value things that matter the least such as night time soap opera’s and what Paris Hilton is wearing or who she’s dating, one is believed to think that he or she can count on real news stations to report real news. Unfortunately, this is not the case. It is a truly sad day when OJ Simpson trumps talk of President Bush naming the person to take over the Attorney General position vacated by Alberto Gonzales. I will give you an even better example. When General Petraeus came to Capital Hill to give his report on the War in Iraq; he did not garner as much coverage as OJ Simpson did this morning.
What ever happened to reporting on news stories that matter? Whether OJ goes to jail or not has no effect on our national security or who the next President of The United States may be. He has no bearing on if Congress will approve Michael B. Mukasey as the new Attorney General or if the 6 teenagers in Jena will have the charges against them dropped. These are the stories that matter to Americans; or at least they matter to the Americans that I know. Who cares what the judge has to say in OJ’s hearing. I don’t care that Paris Hilton cut her hair (I know this by watching your station) or that Lindsey Lohan received a visit from her dad in rehab. I will do you one better. Instead of talking about how awful of a human being Barry Bonds is for taking steroids (which he has yet to test positive for) how about holding Bud Selig’s feet to the fire for allowing this type of behavior to go on in baseball for so long. If you really want to talk about the lyrics in rap music; let’s have a discussion about the environment in which these rappers come from and why their lyrics may reflect their previous situations. I could continue on with my rant, but I will stop and say this. Please report on news stories that will affect American society, not stories that aren’t worthy of the front page of a tabloid. Thank you for taking the time to read my message and I hope that what I have to say will make a difference.
-JH
JARED
Today was either a bad news day or a slow news day. OJ Simpson dominated the headlines and the top news stories. He was on CNN, CNN Headline News, ESPN, ESPN 2, Court TV, MSNBC, and Fox News. He may have been on more of the major networks; but I stopped counting. As most of you know, Mr. Simpson and few of his buddies barged into a hotel room in a Las Vegas casino and demanded that a sports memorabilia collector give back a picture of him and former President J. Edgar Hoover. According to Las Vegas police there were guns involved. However; the fine men and women of the Las Vegas police department have yet to recover said weapon. As a result of Mr. Simpson’s stupidity, he is being charged with 11 felony counts which include kidnapping and robbery.
Now before I proceed allow me to make this clear. I am in no way defending OJ Simpson. After his acquittal in 1995; he should have moved to a country in a far away land never to be heard from again. So in response to most major news networks having their “best and brightest” newscasters descend on Las Vegas for a simple hearing; I have decided to write an open letter to each station voicing my frustration. My dissatisfaction stems from years of biased news coverage, reporting on non news stories and my displeasure with their treatment of the Bush White House.
To Whom It May Concern,
My name is Jason Henry and I am a disgruntled viewer. On September 19, 2007, you decided to devote the majority of your news coverage to a hearing on OJ Simpson. While I understand this brings back memories of Mr. Simpson’s trial in 1995; your decision to give his hearing so much coverage troubles me. In a society that seems to value things that matter the least such as night time soap opera’s and what Paris Hilton is wearing or who she’s dating, one is believed to think that he or she can count on real news stations to report real news. Unfortunately, this is not the case. It is a truly sad day when OJ Simpson trumps talk of President Bush naming the person to take over the Attorney General position vacated by Alberto Gonzales. I will give you an even better example. When General Petraeus came to Capital Hill to give his report on the War in Iraq; he did not garner as much coverage as OJ Simpson did this morning.
What ever happened to reporting on news stories that matter? Whether OJ goes to jail or not has no effect on our national security or who the next President of The United States may be. He has no bearing on if Congress will approve Michael B. Mukasey as the new Attorney General or if the 6 teenagers in Jena will have the charges against them dropped. These are the stories that matter to Americans; or at least they matter to the Americans that I know. Who cares what the judge has to say in OJ’s hearing. I don’t care that Paris Hilton cut her hair (I know this by watching your station) or that Lindsey Lohan received a visit from her dad in rehab. I will do you one better. Instead of talking about how awful of a human being Barry Bonds is for taking steroids (which he has yet to test positive for) how about holding Bud Selig’s feet to the fire for allowing this type of behavior to go on in baseball for so long. If you really want to talk about the lyrics in rap music; let’s have a discussion about the environment in which these rappers come from and why their lyrics may reflect their previous situations. I could continue on with my rant, but I will stop and say this. Please report on news stories that will affect American society, not stories that aren’t worthy of the front page of a tabloid. Thank you for taking the time to read my message and I hope that what I have to say will make a difference.
-JH
JARED