Media LOVES Disaster!

[RICHARD]

Case in point?

The Holloway/Aruba Mystery.

Every night of the week it's Beth Holloway Twitty on the tube..
When the networks left Aruba for Hurricane Katrina, BHT broke her promise to
"Stay in Aruba until I find out what happened to Natalie..."

It's a small wonder that she got no cooperation from the Aruban authorities.

The media made a HUGE stink about this gal's disappearance...they followed the mom all over the island....that just bred the contempt the locals had for this woman and her daughter.

Hey, Natalie is missing, but chose to ignore the guy that got his arse tossed overboard on his honeymoon??

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The most troubling part about all the murders and disaster stories is that the media chooses the most photogenic, good looking people to profile and should you happen to be poor, ugly or ?????

FORGET IT!

[Edwina's Secretary]

So.....why do you watch these programs if they offend you? Why don't you turn off the tv?

[Pam]

So.....why do you watch these programs if they offend you? Why don't you turn off the tv?

You sort of don't have a choice if you watch the evening news. That is all that is covered really. Just the BAD news. Surely something good must be going on somewhere in the world. No wonder there are so many anti-depression, anti-anxiety drugs on the market. In fact, that is another whole subject. How in the world did we get to the point where a good third of the commercials are about drugs that we all supposedly need to take to cope with whatever ails us? Hubby often comments that some of the side effects of these drugs sound like they are worse than the disease they are trying to help. OK I'm done.

[RICHARD]

So.....why do you watch these programs if they offend you? Why don't you turn off the tv?

Because I get free cable, the West Wing sucks and "The Prez is a woman" is fiction.

Actually I love the History Channel, The Hysterical Channel (Comedy Central),
The Hysterics Channel (Lifetime) the Hysterectomy Channel (Discovery Channel) and the His and Hers Channel (Home and Garden TV)

[Edwina's Secretary]

All the reasons on this thread are why I rarely, rarely watch tv. I've never seen the woman you are talking about...and still I manage to keep fairly up-to-date on the news.

But Pam.... I am with you all the way on the drug commercials. And who is paying for those commercials? You and I every day in our rapidly increasing medical/drug insurance.

And I have never really understood why Dorothy Hamill was advertising Vioxx...if I took Vioxx would it make me skate like her??? SO..."ask your doctor if Vioxx is right for you!" "Hey doc...I want to skate like Dorothy Hamill. Give me Vioxx!"

I had someone in a class once who works for the company that makes a diabetes testing devise. When they began having a tv ad with a musician their sales went thorugh the roof. People went to the doctor and said..."Give me what he is using."

I believe the drug companies have their tenacles as deeply into our government as the oil companies.

That's why I get two newspapers and two news magazines. My little (very little) boycott. And I can read the news I want....and ignore the rest.

[Pam]

Sara it is scary that we are in agreement on some things. Seriously, I agree with you 100% about the drug companies. I always had to laugh at the denture commercials in the past where 30-somethings would be in the ads for denture adhesives and now the 30-somethings are doing arthritis commercials. I'm not saying that people in their 30's don't suffer from arthritis or have dentures but once again we see youth being pushed to sell things that, for the most part, they have no use for. Next they will be showing cleavage in these commercials!

I too watch very little TV. I watch 1/2 hr. of my local news and then I used to watch Peter Jennings. My TV is usually on TLC, HGTV or Animal Planet. I have never ever watched a reality show. Now you know just how strange I am!

[RICHARD]

And I have never really understood why Dorothy Hamill was advertising Vioxx...if I took Vioxx would it make me skate like her??? SO..."ask your doctor if Vioxx is right for you!" "Hey doc...I want to skate like Dorothy Hamill. Give me Vioxx!"

You won't be able to skate like Dorothy, But you'll be able to box like Tonya.

When y'all watch the old Tee Wee, look out for the law offices of Dewey, Cheatem and Howe.

If you have breathed, worked or lived in the past 35 years you can file a law suit.

Think about this, the drug, car, and tobacco industries are being torn down because of the scuzzy lawyers who love to go after the HUGE settlements.

Nothing ticks me off more that a moron who smokes for 300 years, dies, and the A-hole family sues and gets a 380 million dollar settlement......

Same thing with drugs. You get a person who has a fractured appendix and goes in for treatment. the bandaid they splint the appendix with has latex in it and gives the patient a rash.


IT'S A LAWSUIT.......

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The bleeding, ringing of the ears and diarrhea and double vision that happen while taking this drug may be side effects.....hey, I just wanted to get rid of a hangnail!

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Again, it's the microwave generation (A pill to take care of everything!) that wants everything fixed, working or connected in 30 seconds.

And, when that fails, everyone wants to sue. win the lotto or steal.

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Pam,

A little T&A from the FDA would be OK!!!

[Edwina's Secretary]

Sara it is scary that we are in agreement on some things.

Don't worry Pam, it was a full moon yesterday!... And I can proudly say I have never seen a reality show either.

My husband is recovering from shoulder surgery so when he has a bad night....I have a bad night. I had alot of time to ponder the original point of this thread....

What is "the news?"

The Smith family had a nice evening yesterday. Becky brought home a report card with all "B"s and Johnnie got a gold star on his book report. All thought the pot roast was delicious.

A meteorite crashed through the roof of the Smythe family home last night. Mr & Mrs Smythe and their daughter Becca have been rescued from the ruin but the search continues for little Jonny.

The reason fairy tells end at "and they lived happily ever after" is because "happily ever after" isn't very interesting. Nice, but not interesting.

There is a quote....something about all happy families are alike but unhappy families are all unique....

I agree that increased competition in news sources (and some that I question are truely news shows) has lead to alot of hyp and drama. But I still raise they question...are they giving the viewers what the viewers want?

[Lady's Human]

Watching the reports from hurricane Wilma, it amazes me how much the news media hypes things. DISCLAIMER: I KNOW IT'S A DANGEROUS STORM

That having been said, I wonder what the modern media would do with a storm the likes of the 1938 huuricane that hit the east coast? It flooded much of southern New England, including flooding Providence RI with up to 15 feet of water. Top recorded winds were over 180 MPH, caused by the storm's strength and forward velocity of 70 MPH.

They hype Wilma as the "strongest storm ever recorded", yet fail to inform people that they only count storms of the last 100 years because they don't trust older instrument readings. Sailors in the 17th and 18th century record waves that were over the tops of the masts of their ships, but those aren't accurate because the sailors were known to exaggerate. Some storms in that era destroyed entire fleets, but the records don't count.

If you're going to make a claim that given historical data is quesitonable, at least give the disclaimer that the storm data is only considered accurate since______ the same prominence as your 200 point headline.