  Ok Happy NEW YEAR! Enough of that joy crap. My mom just left for the evening. We had a really good talk about journalists and how shitty they have become in general. Look at all the national journalist leaders. Tom Brokaw, Ted Koppell, and the others that are lower than the "heads" but certainly should be competant journalists. Maybe Charlie Rose is decent and we know that (or at least I think) Bill Moyer is probably one of the few left out there with balls. However the vast majority of the "journalists" on TV are not even worthless, worthlessness denotes that they lack value and for them...these people on TV they don't lack worth...actually they are very valuable to the cause of mis-information. Their job has now become that of mis-informers and has great value when it comes to keeping the masses out of the loop on what is real. Many people on the outside and in indy-media have a real problem with the "Joe Millionaire" shows, or the other reality TV shows...I think they suck and shouldn't be on TV but I understand that you have to entertain people from time to time and frankly if the News Departments are doing their jobs then let the people have their schlock TV.
However TV News isn't doing its job...not even nearly. They do even worse than not do their job they mis-inform people. On mis-information I can pull one thing right from the headlines is the "drop in jobless claims". Personally I find this offensive. Why? Because it is mis-information. Its not a lie so much...because lieing would be unethical but mis-information is ok. They report that unemployement is down to 5.4 or so percent. That isn't correct it is actually closer to 9.4 or so percent.
Read Between the Lines and read where long term claims have actually grown. What the reports neglect to tell is that many have stopped looking for work and are no longer counted by the system, and some go so far as to say "employers may be thinking happier thoughts as less people are being laid off". Well if they are thinking rosier than I would hope someone would tell that to the people still loosing their decent paying jobs.
In addition Congress and the White House (both Republican Controlled) failed to renew unemployement benefits before they let out for the holidays. So literally millions of people were to loose their benefits around the 21st of December. One source ...good luck on finding other newer sources of info for it. Now this isn't the first time the Republicans have balked at extending the benefits the let them lapse last year at this time only to renew them around the 15th to 20th of January after initial economic bright spots turned out to not translate into real jobs.
It happened in May as well. It is a trend. I am sure that the benefits will be demanded and eventually won, but the point is that in our nation...the best country in the world according to our leaders this kind of thing should never be a problem. Especially when it is known that the economy is truely having problems like it is now and has been for a little over three years now. So we know they don't really tell us the whole story. Now what about not doing their job. Well the big guys haven't been asking real questions for a long time of any of our "leaders".
I mean right now there is so much to ask yet no one seems to be asking the questions.
Why?
The common reason that some people would say is that if they asked the questions then they would be not invited back or denied entrance to the press briefings again. My question or comment back to them is why don't you all drill the person at the front with the same question over and over and over again until you are all banned or they answer the question. Hey...novell idea huh? One reported did it at Centcom during the Iraq war and was pushed out of the briefings by the command...and instead of the reporters and news people sticking up for each other they let it slide like a bunch of spineless wimps.
In reality they should have all stuck together and just left the place because they weren't getting real info anyway. That is what we talked about. I took a bigger picture than what we actually talked about...we talked about a story a little closer to home about why things happened they way they did and why reporters haven't followed in any real way what happened. You would think they would at least make a phone call to someone involved in the case to get a comment...but no.
Anyway...regardless of how or who it applies too...I think that reporters have simply done a shitty job...and it is now being taught in schools and universities. I mean tell me one halfway decent University newspaper that is actually doing its job...or a faculty that will stand up to administration pressures should they come down on a report that may be unfriendly. Now I know all of them will say "oh yeah sure we would" but when has it actually happened in recent times. If it has great...but I bet it hasn't happened all that often. So students aren't really being taught to do what is right and that is fight for the truth.
I worked at a school paper back at my community college...and while I would love to say that if I had ever gotten a really juicy story I would have been backed up...I know that I wouldn't have been in reality. Partly because of the reality of the world. My teachers had families that partly depended on their income from that job. So to choose me over their family is dumb and I would expect them to choose family over me or my story but I would find a way to get it printed.
So I understand why but I think it should be different. So I would hope that people out there would bombard these guys up on the air with questions. Maybe just one question a day. All the same question, one a day. Thanks for spending some time reading tonight. I want to wish everyone a happy new year and I hope that better things await us come next year. We have had a loosing streak that is about to break one way or the other I can feel it. Goodnight. May your night be wonderful and safe. 
