Big Wide World

i don't really know what to say about this. first of all, i think its more than just a question of was it the chicken or the egg, but also its a question of trusting the statistics, the research, the control group, all of that fun empirical research stuff that i have worked very hard to forget after taking the class in university. basically, i'm still doing research on this in order to figure out if i trust this study.

secondly, even if this is true, and students are not watching 'traditional' news media, and are relying on internet research and jon stewart, i'm thinking... there's still hope. consider it - news, such as (oh i can't believe i just called this news) FOX and CNN and shows such as this (but especially FOX), are hardly news. after all, news has become big business, its monopolized, and hardly unbiased, or smart, or informative (well, the list goes on). they sensationalize, they exploit, and they present the news that is most beneficial and probably approved by their sponsors, CEOs, shareholders etc. when a "reporter" is reporting a story about the government spying on their citizens' telephone conversations, and he says that it's better that the goverment collect our private conversations than collect corpses, i no longer believe that that "reporter" is just presenting a story to inform people. i think that accountability, responsible journalism, intelligence, research, all of those "traditional" journalistic skills and practices are, for the most part, in the mainstream media, well... gone.

so, thank god for shows like jon stewart, because they provide a critique (in an entertaining way of course) to just reconsider the information that is presented. of course jon stewart (brilliant as he is) does not kid himself into believeing that he is by any stretch of the imagination, hard news. he has a satirical show on a comedy network, and he simply stirs the pot a little in order to, hopefully, rattle the group think, and present another way of thinking about events that are changing the world that we live in. and while it is not his responsibility to do so (seeing as how he is not a journalist in a 'traditional' form) thank god that he is there in order to point out the absurdity of main stream media. if reporters only offer one view, the corporate view, then someone has to be there who can present a counter position. don't get me wrong, i know that his show is also a business, but at least they don't try to bullshit you.

so if students are watching jon stewart, amen to them. there's more going on then students who watch jon stewart becoming jaded and not votingw. i refuse to watch 'traditional' news media because, well, i have a lot of my own reasons that i don't really want to get into. and i encourage people (students apparently) to stop watching them and do their own research about news instead of watching sensationalized 30 second clips made to make people as emotional as possible so that they don't critically analize the information that they were just flashed with.

i'd say its a sad state of affairs when the only trustworthy analytical 'news media' is a guy who does a satirical news show on a comedy network. lets consider that a little bit and consider where we're heading. (no offence jon, i love you).