THE FUTURE OF THE MEDIA

The media is all atwitter. The reports are that Katie Couric is to be removed from her position as anchor of the CBS evening news. Of course all of the usual suspects have weighed in on the reason. The biggest reason they opine is that she has not been accepted because she is a woman. America is what Elton John recently called a country of misogynists. To any who care that means women haters. Others have said that CBS is having some difficulty paying her salary of some fifteen million dollars a year and still finishing up in last place in the ratings. Still others have said that television news is lagging behind the internet as the prime source of news for the American consumer. Some of these reasons may have some validity.

Consider this. The New York Times has been laying off a vast number of people citing reasons that ad revenue has been lowered by competition from the internet. The Los Angeles Times is reported to be in the same boat. I have heard the same about any of a number of newspapers. We are being told that newspapers are a dead issue for the future because people don’t want to spend the time or the energy reading the news.

Then there is Air America. This is the self described liberal alternative to the conservative radio networks. They apparently believed that their side wasn’t being given proper time and space on the air waves. It seems that they hadn’t heard of NPR or other ultra liberal forms of media that were available to the American consumer. Their experiment however failed. They have since filed for bankruptcy protection. It appears that there was not a huge demand for their liberal opinion of the news.

So, what is the reason for all this uneasiness in the liberal media? Are the causes of their difficulty as defined by them true? Or is something else going on?

I don’t watch Katie Couric or CBS for any reason with the possible exception of an occasional sporting event. I don’t care for their agenda. I have never believed they just reported the news. My opinion is and has been that they report their view of the news. They report what they want the news to be. I dislike Katie Couric not because she is a woman, but because she preaches an agenda that doesn’t square with my opinion of America. The fact that both she and CBS are in difficult times may be just because of these facts. It is possible that the real America may be very different from the country they see from their northeast newsrooms.

How about the New York Times? Personally I wouldn’t wrap my rotting fish in that newspaper for fear the fish would be contaminated by the experience. How they continue to be the so-called standard of news is beyond my understanding. They and their ilk are and will continue to suffer from their own miscalculation of the American people.

Air America doesn’t even need much mention. It will continue to be an asterisk in the media because of these same miscalculations.

Contrary to the opinion of the northeast media elite, America is not a liberal country. America is not the country they see from their Manhattan cocktail parties and social gatherings. The real America is much more down to earth. Fox News Channel says “We report, you decide.” The problem with that is the same as with all news reporting, they decide what they report.

I don’t care if these big media companies fail and disappear. Someone else will come along. I don’t even care if Katie Couric falls on hard financial times without her fifteen million dollar salary. I will continue to get my news from many sources and sort it all out and make my own decisions. I recommend for you the same, and if all else fails, you can just read my blog.

Ron Scarbro April 14, 2008