Television news just not cutting it
By Alyssa Christianson

Every day millions of people will turn on their t e l e v i s i o n sets to watch the news. It's the beginning, middle, and end of many people's day. We have a constant need to know exactly what is going on in the world.

I, personally, watch the news every morning before I go to school and even on weekends I find myself watching it at some point in the day. Usually I just check to see what the weather is, but other times I find myself just watching.

One thing I've noticed about nearly every news station available is that bad news is good news.

What is the world's obsession with tragedy all about? Just tonight, before I started writing this, I was watching CNN and the anchor went from reporting on tornados and flooding in the Midwest to gas prices to violence rates in major cities.

Is there not enough good, enjoyable things happening in the world to occupy even a half hour news program?

I think after so much bad news, something has to give. How much can the newswatchers of the world possibly take?

For example, this morning there was a one minute report on the Walk for Hunger that occurred in Boston on May 6, but it was followed by a seven minute report on gas prices.

Gas prices are high, we understand this. We are all paying the price. Why can't we hear about something besides the burden of money?

It is understandable, after all, that dramatic and tragic news is the most interesting. You aren't exactly going to be enthralled about every report of a fire department rescuing a kitten from a tree, but still … a little comic relief might do the world some good.

The focus of the news needs to be, in my opinion, altered. I see way too much about pain and problems and not enough about what we're doing to fix these problems.

In addition, why is my local news station reporting on the lives of celebrities? Frankly, I am unconcerned about what they do with their lives. When did gossip become news?

If I don't hear about when someone in my own town gets married, why should I hear about when some celebrity I don't even know gets married?

News channels should report on the news. The news should be informative and accurate. I haven't really seen that provided lately.

Personally, I think this is why I prefer the newspaper over televised news. The newspaper provides a condensed version of what you'll find on TV, but condensed in such a way that you get the important part of the story and not the fluff you find on TV.

The newspaper is the "good oldfashioned" way to find out about what is going on. You get local, national, and international news so that you know what's going on around you but you can sift through the stories you aren't interested in.

Maybe it's just me, or maybe I'm speaking for many when I say that televised news channels need to fix themselves up.

The world is in a place where it needs to be cheered up, not bogged down by every depressing story we can get our hands on. We want to hear about the good. We want to hear about the victories. We want something more than what many channels are providing.