WLKY's problem but this time it's sports

I wrote a piece recently about WLKY's crime addiction. Surprise, they have more than one problem. However, this one is arguably worse. Every day, they have a 3-5 minute sports segment at the end of the show. This is a largely boring and irrelevant part of the show. These segments do a poor job of making the interesting important- or really interesting. These stories do little more than say 'someone new was hired' or 'UK to play School X' They have so little information, and so few connections to wider issues, that they honestly make me want to turn the news off- not that I can. I have to watch it for these. But regardless, These segments are boring and so sparsely detailed that they aren't helpful.

Perfectly Poor Populism Problems

In class we talked about many two-piece contrasts in journalism. One such was the difference between populism- news tailored to the largest, most profitable audience- and elitism- news made by people who only want to see change made, not make money. Now, the problem in modern America is not that there are no Elitist news sources, but rather that populist news dominates our news cycles. A large problem with populist news is that they play to their audience, modifying stories or creating conspiracy theories to defend their beliefs. Yet populism dominates the news today, because they appeal to a large audience. This system of news is ineffective, because our news channels are looking to profit, and not benefit the people of the nation.

Print's Impression

Over the last weeks, we've talked about the onset of various forms of mass media. The first on our list was the book, turned into a mass medium by the invention of the printing press, and it's simplified, more concise design brought about by Gutenberg. Yet the printing press had much more lasting impressions than those it left on papers. The press became a much more fascinating and liberating invention the more I learned about it's consequences. It's cheap, bulk production process allowed dissenters, both religious and political, to spread their ideas much more safely. It's widely considered a near direct cause of the Protestant Reformation, and it allowed scientific and political ideas to spread as well, all with a speed and potency never before seen. You could argue that we'd be decades behind on science, without Protestantism as a distinct branch of Christianity, and still in an age of monarchies without one German man deciding to print bibles for the poor.

WLKY's crime addiction

A week and a half ago, on Thursday, WLKY aired their daily 6:00 news- or so it would seem.  The first quarter of the show was completely taken up by crime stories. Here's the issue with this- they were largely irrelevant. Not only this, but it feels like they provided little to no useful information to the watcher. Looking back at my notes, I cannot remember any of these specific stories, even though each was given about a minute's runtime. These stories were boring, and WLKY chose to air them without context or related data, making their impact miniscule. This does not abide by the yardstick of relevance, because so much time was taken up by stories that affected so few people, without any connection to a trend or important issue. The stories were bland and easily forgettable. Now that is a crime for you.

Movies' Modern Relevance- Rather, why they still have it.

We discussed recently in class the topic of movie theaters, and why they have stayed successful in America. One point that was brought up stuck with me, that being the pressure by society to see movies  as soon as possible. Most of the movie experience could be had in similar capacity with a dvd at home, Yet we still flock to theaters when the next Avengers or Star Wars comes out. This is because movies have endeavored to give us experiences that cannot be seen on tv. As a result, when we go to see them, we're often blown away by their quality and scale. We want to talk about them, but others don't want to have the movies spoiled. It plays on excitement and fear of ruining the story, which is why it's so effective at getting us into theaters time and again.

None of any Facts

While checking up on Satchel's charges into the project, I found a critique of a WDRB news story.
http://satchelsjcblog.blogspot.com/2018/10/all-facts.html
I think his points here are very valid- save his second paragraph opener. "Not only is this a meaningless, fear-mongering story..." is simply untrue. You argument point that there isn't enough information is valid and well put together, but works against you here. You show no evidence that this story tries to incite fear, and while extremely incomplete, this story is not meaningless. Even if this turned out to be a false alarm, it's helpful to know why police are blockading your apartment. There is meaning here, even if it is small and very localized. However, I agree that this story was in no condition to air. It is so incomplete that it is barely helpful to anyone watching the show.

A Serious Interlude- Hate Crimes, Ultranationalism, Gun Violence, and more.

The media has dubbed the last three days 72 Hours of Hell. During this time, we've seen 13 package bombs sent to various Democratic politicians, figureheads, and CNN. We've seen a hate crime- racially charged- occur within ten blocks of my house. We've seen a man walk into a place of worship in Pennsylvania and open fire. When we discussed these issues in class today, it certainly got me thinking. So I suppose I'll run down the list. I think all three of these attacks were hate crimes. There is no question to me that the synagogue attack and Kroger shooting were. I believe the bombs sent to  CNN and Democrats are also a hate crime. It shows such hatred of another's ideas that you are willing to kill them for their thoughts. After all, aren't politics and religion both ideas? These tie in to my next point of Ultranationalism. This ideology of violence is worryingly growing. Polarization of American politics is causing a sense of combat for power rather than cooperation for the good of the country.  Ultranationalism is dangerous to democracy. Defended and encouraged by a president who has condoned violence in the past, extremists are more willing to strike out. This point is tied to the next- Gun Violence. The man who attacked Kroger abused his wife, threatened to kill his family, had his guns taken multiple times, and yet was still given back his weapons. The man who attacked the Pittsburgh synagogue used the 1488 nationalist- white supremacist symbol and tweeted about HIAS- a Hebrew immigration foundation- bringing in 'invaders' , saying "I'm going in." The bomber had threatened to bomb a company before. Where do we draw the line on access to weapons? The point that regulating guns would be difficult is valid, but not insurmountable. It's clear to me that the synagogue shooter was dangerous and the Kroger shooter was at risk of snapping any second. We cannot have such a deep party divide if America is to survive.