Tragedies make for depressing television
by Jacob Tucker, associate editor
During the past week, I have discovered
something that I thought was quite startling. The news that
is shown on television and written in many of the
publications now is extremely depressing.
I came to this conclusion on the night
of Sept. 10. I was visiting my fiancée at her apartment on
campus. She has cable, so I decide to take a look at what
was on. Being a journalist, I instinctively turn to CNN. I
think to myself, “I think I deserve some good news today.”
Larry King was on. Not my favorite
show, but its talk-show news nonetheless. To my surprise,
he was talking to Steven Irwin’s manager/friend of 15
years. He was bawling his eyes out over the loss of his
dear friend, and I don’t blame him. A tear comes to my eye
in between the man’s sobs. I think, “I don’t need to watch
this; it is too depressing.”
Not five seconds after that thought,
Larry King says, “And now we will talk to the man who
attempted to resuscitate Irwin after his final plunge into
the water, Philippe Cousteau.” Then I really began to
fumble for the remote, because I knew that if his best
friend cried that much, I knew that Cousteau was going to
cry even more.
I change the channel to ABC, thinking I
would catch the Sunday Night Movie. Instead, I catch one of
the ‘sleeper’ hits of the year “Pathway to 9/11.” The
plotline was fairly predictable, as most films are when they
involve events leading up to a disaster. It was about the
events that occurred before the attack on 9/11, and strongly
hinted that the entire ordeal could have been avoided. How
could they show something like that on the eve of what has
been dubbed the ‘worst day’ in our nation’s history? Let’s
make the people of our country distrust the government even
more.
Fearing that the depression from Larry
King and the pre-9/11 events would be too much for me to
bear, I change the channel to CBS. Surely these guys would
not add to my depression. As soon as the station comes up,
I see a solemn black screen simply stating “9/11.” My
fiancée glances up from her homework at the silence and
says, “Hey, stay here. I want to watch this.”
Those were the words that I feared, but
I did exactly what any man would do when their better half
gives them a command. I sank back in my chair and listened.
The entire show was a documentary that
these French guys did about a young firefighter who was
fresh out of the academy and starting on the streets. What
these two men did not realize was that they were about to
become part of history. They filmed the entire terrorist
attack. They were the ones who got footage of the first
plane hitting the building. Their group was the first on
the scene, and one of the few firehouses that did not lose
any one in the attack.
Just watching that documentary made me
break down into tears. It was about the fifth time that I
had seen this particular documentary, and every time I tear
up. I began to think, “Man, television sure is depressing
these days.”
I really mean that from the bottom of
my heart. The world is changing; therefore, the content
that is newsworthy is changing also. Many publications have
begun to focus on what the world has too much of, violence.
This focus plays a key role in our society today. The
viewer may not think that it affects them, but the problems
of the world are becoming more and more prevalent in our
homes. Everyone has his or her own problems. They do not
need the problems of the rest of the world.
I do realize that the news has to be
reported, but when your 30-minute newscasts become half full
of murders and war, a line needs to be drawn.
We need to change our focus from one
that is violent and depressing; to one that actually brings
a smile to a person’s face. Why can’t the news that we hear
and the publications that we read usher joy into one’s
life?
A difference can be made, but it starts
with the viewer and/or the reader. If we begin by changing
our own lives to something positive, it can, and will, have
a similar effect on everyone who surrounds us.
