“Why must news channels be so jarringly loud all the time?” I said to my neighbor Charlie.
This after a news station promo had shot out like a shrieking banshee from my rickety TV set when I switched it on , causing equal damage to both ear and equanimity.
“Ah, it’s the constant craving”, said Charlie. “Constant craving for audiences on the part of the media and for excitement on the part of the audiences. Keeping it loud works well for both. .”
Charlie is so used to the Important-If-It’s-Loud scheme of things that he turns up the volume to max whenever there are no big news stories on. This apparently helps make believe that there are terrifically big news stories on. Charlie has relented at times only upon Mrs. Charlie taking exception and that only at the fear of a lost plate of roast beef. (In Charlie’s newspaper , that would be a headline tragedy of epic proportion. Those familiar will know that Charlie and hot dinner are no frosty strangers.)
“Now all this talk of sub-par news media ? I don’t buy that. On the contrary I think what we have at hand is very balanced news coverage. Take global warming. For three months they covered nothing else. And now all we hear about is how the half the world is all snowed in.”
He’s a strange one , my neighbor Charlie , apt to blow hot and cold about things from time to time but with a guy like that ,you sure don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.
It’s towards loud.
