 Piles of Unnecessary Fluff As most ethical people in America today who understand modern media know, just because a topic has become something "everyone is talking about" doesn't mean the topic has to have any serious substance or value.
Just look at the recent furor over Megyn Kelly's ridiculous comments about white Santa and white Jesus, or the exaggerated and near apoplectic weather reports from major national sources last weekend, about the blustery but generally meager few inches of snow that fell in the U.S. Northeast - in December.
The old news media trope has always been, "If it bleeds, it leads." If the only goal of a newspaper, website, TV or radio station is to get people's attention, sadly that rule is still often true. That doesn't mean the bleeding news maxim is ethically correct. It also doesn't guarantee the next hackjob media outlet down the street can't start an even bigger and more pointless rhetorical fire - all while missing the very crucial details of a very important story.
Take the NSA leaks exposed through the theft of government secrets by Edward Snowden.
Those leaks are making the news again today, in large part due to the ruling of a Federal judge on Monday, who determined the widespread bulk collection of telephone metadata by the NSA is likely unconstitutional.
That the lawsuit against the Federal government was filed by an extremist right-wing nutjob, with a questionably racist and anti-Obama history shouldn't matter. That the suit involves information leaked by Edward Snowden, a man who broke Federal laws and that the Obama Administration believes should still face Federal charges shouldn't matter... |
