Serious Journalists

When most journalists write about blogs, they usually slip in a dig or two about the trivial stuff that appears in blogs--- pictures of cats or breathless celebrity worship. That's evidence that bloggers are not serious people.

But what does it mean when all three cable news channels provide live coverage of a movie actor when he appears at a playground? Sure Arnold is running for Governor, but so are approximately 13,683 other people in California. Was his appearance the most important political news that day?

By the same token, are the Laci Peterson murder case and the Kobe Bryant case the most important matters now facing our country? Based on the air time devoted to them, they must be.

It is hard to take the profession seriously when they talk about doing the people's business and then shamelessly fill time with tabloid stories and punditry. It has little to do with our "right to know" or "professional news judgment." It has a lot to do with cost-effective programming that pulls in ratings.