Dont Understand

Getting to the Point

I work for a news organization in Syracuse - and have worked for several news organizations throughout out internships, but this is my first full time job. When people watch the news they don't see everything that goes on behind the scenes everything that it takes to put on a 30-minute newscast. And the funny thing is that everyone in the news industry is going to hell. Simply put, we feed off misery and suffering, and its funny. Not because rape or murder of dead bodies are funny, (which they are not) but when your work puts you in close contact with the suffering - when you listen to interviews with crying mothers and family- wailing about the recently departed - you need to have a sense of humor.

Celebrating the Dead

When tragedy strikes, it’s very inconvenient for me. Of course its more inconvenient for the person it happens to, but when something bad happens all hell breaks lose in the newsroom. Reporters need to switch roles, change gears, trucks need to move, stories of the day re-shuffled. Of course on a slow day, where there is nothing going on - something bad happens turns into team coverage with live hits from the scene as police tape flutters in the wind or fire fighters scramble to keep a house fire knocked down. However that’s what makes for good television. The most memorable pictures in history the firefighter carrying the body of the child out of the world trade center, the execution of a man in Vietnam, the single protester standing up to the tank in China's Red Square they are all images of tragedy. There are no memorable pictures of success except on the sports page - and the success of one team is simply the tragic defeat of another. Call me a defeatist - pessimist - but look around you - at the news - on TV, in the papers, on the web and let me know what you find.

On A More Up Beat Note....

There is something I've noticed; when you read obits or talk to the family of the departed they always say something like " He was just turning his life around." "He was such a good (boy/girl), (he/she) was just getting away from (drugs/streets/significant other)." It seems to me and to many others that no one who deserves it ever gets killed. They never say "Man that piece of sh*t was nothing, he was never going to be anything, and they sold me bad weed." So (I’m stealing this) simple way to stay safe - "Don't ever ever ever turn you life around" - it basically guarantees you a trip to the morgue

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