Steve Doocy Hates America

Choose or Lose. Vote or DIE.

Maybe it’s just me, but I can’t help thinking that it’s a bit dangerous to coin catchy phrases for something as important as the presidential election. Low voter turnout isn't the problem -- the problem is our incredibly uninformed electorate. We know we should watch the news, or better yet, pick up a newspaper, and yet so many of us choose not to. Why?

It seems pretty obvious that, in the age of 24-hour coverage, the quality of what we’re fed has been reduced dramatically. The competition felt by networks, cable or otherwise, drives them to cover fluff just to keep us rooted to the couch. And if it’s not a teaser about Brangelina (What's Jen pissed about now!?! I have to know!), it’s fear, fear, fear. Have you ever paid attention to the CNN voice over that runs about eight thousand times a day? “Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.” Really? Day and night? If I turn it off, I won’t be safe? I mean, (GOB Bluth style), COME ON!!!

The news networks all rely on this kind of threat to ensure that we’ll keep watching, keep soaking it all in, without really learning anything…how can we get so little information from 24 hour news? Even when the programming attempts to be serious, the "experts" invited to participate can’t stop yelling at each other long enough to make an intelligent point about anything. And then there’s the permanent “talent.” Larry King, perhaps the most recognizable face on CNN, devotes entire hours to Miss USA or American Idol, certainly not prime time news worthy topics. And then there's Paula Zahn, a reactionary who manages to use the word “tolerance” about three hundred times per show while at the same time being rude to any guest who's on whatever side she’s currently pretending to be against. And don’t even get me started on the Fox News Channel. I mean, here’s a network where misinformation is news. Consider, for example, Fox and Friends co-host Steve Doocy’s gleeful squealing about the “report” that Barack Obama had attended a Madrassa when he was younger…too bad that report wasn’t true. Doocy later
"apologized" for his incompetance on air, noting that Obama’s camp denied reports that the presidential hopeful had ever attended a Madrassa. Doocy noted that he and the others at Fox and Friends felt the need to “[put] that out there.” Of course, the quiet apology won’t resonate in quite the same way as will Doocy's implicit suggestion that Obama has a background in Islamic extremism...but I'm sure that wasn't intentional. Sadly, the Fox network misinforms viewers on such a regular basis that this most recent "lapse in judgment" comes as no surprise.

Clearly I’m not the only American frustrated with what’s on the news these days. Less than ten percent of the American public watches any major network news broadcast, and even fewer watch pundits like Bill O’Reilly or Larry King. Sounds like that’s really not such a bad thing. Luckily, most major newspapers - including two of our nation's most respected publications, The Washington Post and The New York Times - offer the vast majority of their content online, free of charge. Good information is out there, but we as citizens have to make an effort to find it if we want to be active participants in the political world. Watching Larry King Live, The O’Reilly Factor or even (my favorite) The Daily Show doesn’t make you an informed citizen, and that’s not news.

There are, of course, exceptions to the rule. I get more substantive information from Jim Lehrer, who hosts The NewsHour on PBS, in one sitting that I could from CNN or FNC in an entire day…maybe because Mr. Lehrer can actually tolerate talking about an issue for more than thirty seconds. You know what's strange about Mr. Lehrer? He manages to get his point across without yelling…he doesn’t even resort to insulting his guests (and, ultimately, his viewing audience). He covers the most important issues of the day with dignity and intelligence. We could all use a little more Lehrer. He’s a strange man…I feel something for him. Respect? I think it just might be.