Lately I've noticed how the Sun Times comics sections are getting more serious, and your serious sections are getting more comical. Maybe the place to be is somewhere right in the middle. If the media can locate that, then -- New Media or Old Media -- they just might find a whole new definition for journalism...!
Take your comics. In an obvious effort to be more thoughtful, some cartoonists are becoming more pretentious. Now if you have to re-read a comic strip to get its point, it's lost its point. The art of humor is to strike its blow quickly; like a rapier, not a broadsword.
On the other hand, the news section is not only getting more comical, it's becoming downright absurd. I mean, how in the name of all the editors in all the gin joints in all the world have Paris Hilton, Lindsey Lohan, Sarah Palin and the latest smarmy "other woman" become news? Gossip, yes. Scandal, of course. But news? Give me a break!
The real world's on fire, so professional journalism really needs to get a grip. If your cartoonists can just remember their job is to bring a needed smile, and your reporters can just remember their job is to bring some needed facts. After that, we can all read the supermarket junk magazines for some needed therapy. You know -- reading their nonsense and being able to say to your libido: "Thank God that's not me...!"
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Journalism, if you can call it that these days, has become a joke! As you say, the likes of Paris Hilton and now the latest "scandal" of Tiger Woods, is what becomes FRONT page news...while the world crumbles around us. It's a sad statement on our society.
ReplyDeleteSo "sad" I sometimes literally cry between screams...!!!!
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