Beachcombing – News Junkies

Those of us in the news business tend to be “news junkies,” meaning that we watch several TV newscasts, read multiple newspapers and follow many online news sources.

There is an important distinction between “news” and “commentary,” otherwise known as “opinion.”

In the Beachcomber we label commentary by our writers and reader submissions as “In My Opinion” or Letters to the Editor (shorter than 300 words). This column is an example of commentary, often followed by a dab of “funny stuff.” Online, Beachcombing is only found in the opinion section.

Lately we’ve noticed that KTLA-TV on channel 5 is clueless about their role in bringing us current events. Their on-air talent is best described as news readers, since that role requires the reading of news items from a teleprompter, which has been written by a news reporter. These people are often hired for their ability to properly pronounce teleprompter words, look pretty and represent different ethnicities.

For whatever reason, the on-air talent often engages in personal observations about the news that will drag on for extended periods. Click: Time to switch stations.

It gets worse at 2 p.m. on weekdays when the on-air talent expands on their personal opinions for an entire hour entitled “Off the Clock.” Click, click and double click.

If you want to hear more meaningful commentary, it exists on the evening national newscasts as well as Sunday morning programs like NBC’s “Meet the Press,” ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” or “CBS Sunday Morning.” They make significant attempts at fairness by having guests with differing points of view.

Even the 24-hour news stations, FOX, CNN and MSNBC, have strayed from their primary job by offering hour-long “shows” filled with commentary, which has predictably resulted in them being labeled either “right wing” and “left wing.”

CBS Newscaster Walter Cronkite would be rolling over in his grave if he followed the network news these days. You could count on him to simply read the world news in the 1960s and 1970s, signing off with the words: “And that’s the way it is.”

Even when reporting the November 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Cronkite’s delivery was described as “emotional, marked by a choked voice and a moment where he removed his glasses to compose himself, underscoring the gravity of the moment and becoming a defining image of the assassination coverage.” I remember that broadcast as if it was yesterday.

What that professional newscaster did not do was to verbally express his opinion of the tragedy. We could use a few more Walter Cronkite’s these days in the news business, because “that’s the way it is.”

Rules to teach your son, credited to several authors:

• Never shake a man’s hand sitting down.
• Don’t enter a pool by the stairs.
• The man at the BBQ grill is the closest thing to a king.
• In a negotiation, never make the first offer.
• Request the late check-out.
• When entrusted with a secret, keep it.
• Hold your heroes to a higher standard.
• Return a borrowed car with a full tank of gas.
• Play with passion or don’t play at all.
• When shaking hands, grip firmly and look them in the eye.
• Don’t let a wishbone grow where a backbone should be.
• If you need music on the beach, you’re missing the point.
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publisher@beachcomber.news