An open letter to the people who bring us our news -
That’s it! I finally did it. I turned off the television. Stopped watching the news. And you want to know why? Because just like the rest of my neighbors, family and friends, I’m tired of hearing the same regurgitated “gloom and doom” story that’s played, over and over, again and again. Yep, tired of it.
There’s the saying that “misery loves company.” Well if that’s true then the “purveyors of news” should be a pretty happy group because the whole lot of them is intent on spreading “it’s the end of the world as we know it” message. But you know what the real kicker is? Most of these people who are intent on spreading this tale of despair have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about.
And it’s the partisan ideological crap that most people, quite frankly, are tired of. Take for instance, Joe Scarborough, of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” former Republican Congressman of Florida who strongly supports conservative values. He has blatantly ridiculed Nobel Prize-winning economists as being “out-of-touch and impractical,” yet admits that in only the past year did he finally contribute to his own 401(k). Now do you honestly think I’m going to listen to his financial solutions for our economy? I don’t think so.
And the same is true for most other news commentators, too…very quick to criticize but no real understanding of the issues. It’s the height of hypocrisy when a commentator criticizes members of Congress for their lack of understanding of the economy. True, I wish members of Congress were more knowledgeable but just as damaging as clueless legislators are news commentators with very little understanding of financial matters spewing rants and rhetoric 24/7.
So what should responsible news commentators be doing?
I’m no financial expert by any stretch of the imagination, but back in college I remember learning about the fundamentals of the financial markets. I’m not sure whether it was Finance 101, macro- or microeconomics, but the basic idea was this – expectations drive the financial markets, which means if we believe things will get better, the markets go up. If we believe things will get worse, guess what, the markets go down. And you know what happens if we believe that we are living in the worst possible time since The Great Depression? You guessed it, the markets plunge!
So if these commentators really want to help and build something that adds value rather than feeding into the anxiety and underlying frenzy that they’ve help create, then start booking financial gurus and other “people in the know” and engage in honest dialogue and solution-seeking discussion, not the partisan diatribe that typically clogs their news programming.
And if they don’t want to help, they can continue to parrot one another regarding the imminent demise of our financial future. Does anyone but me find it amusing that not a single financial guru/commentator predicted this financial mess but we’re supposed to listen to their advice now?
Some Bright Spots
You wouldn’t believe anything positive is happening if you switch on today’s news. But as hard as it might be to believe, there are signs of prosperity.
How about the Corning Credit Union in upstate New York which ended 2008 with solid growth including the fourth quarter. It increased its capital position, loan growth continued at record high levels, and total loans increased more than 16% compared to 2007. Total deposits increased more than 10% over the previous year and they added 4,699 new members in 2008. According to its President and CEO, Gary Grinnel, “Our exceptional financial performance throughout 2008 has placed us in an excellent position to assist our members in 2009. While we know that the economy will be the source of many challenges in the coming year, we are confident that our safe, sound, and conservative business practices will help us continue to prosper despite those difficulties. We are ready and able to lend to our members, and, if necessary, we also offer programs to provide them with assistance during this economically challenging time.” Not so gloomy there. And they offer mortgage loans, too.
And how about Union Park Auto of Wilmington, DE, that I passed just yesterday? They were displaying a large banner in one of their windows thanking their customers for their 2008 results, declaring it the best year ever in their 50 year history. Hmmm…someone must be buying cars.
Or what about companies like Boulder, Colorado’s, FlexJobs.com which recognized a market for telecommuting and flexible job schedules and is experiencing solid growth despite an otherwise dismal job market? So there are jobs if you know where to look.
And what about the enormous medical device industry, a $175 billion industry whose growth is outpacing even the pharmaceutical industry? By the way, Joe Scarborough, in response to your statements again and again that the US doesn’t make anything anymore, out of the top 25 medical device manufacturers, sixteen of them are US-based and experiencing double-digit annual growth. And, oh yeah, #2 in the industry is your parent corporation General Electric’s GE Medical. I guess we do make something.
Now do you think these are the only bright spots in this ever-deepening abyss of so-called “doom and gloom?” I think not.
So come on, guys. Stop parroting the same ‘ol stories that are told and re-told, day after day. Start acting like the journalists you claim to be and do a little research; dig up the stories that we haven’t heard…the Corning Credit Unions, the Union Park Autos, the companies and industries that are growing despite the bad news you only want to report.
You claim you deserve more respect than the bloggers you so love to demonize. Remember, respect is earned. So use your shows to encourage value-added dialog, highlight the bright spots because they do exist…and tell me something I don’t know!
Note to Joe: I’m not a political pundit. I’m a mom, a wife, an entrepreneur, a regular, er, Joe. I used you as example because I’ve enjoyed my “Morning Joe” every day since the beginning of the Presidential campaign. I’ve especially enjoyed Mika’s determination to try to communicate and help us understand both sides of an issue, Mike Barnacle’s “aw, shucks” brilliance and Willie’s easy-going charm. The partisan political rants…not so much. As such, I can give details of your political commentary because I’ve been a loyal viewer since the beginning of the show. But having said that, I do watch other “news” programming and can say with certainty the programs are all about the same. So it’s not just you, it’s all of you…same story, different show.
And for your listening and viewing pleasure…
Christian the Lion Video with Whitney Houston
Tags: political ideology, politics
Hi there! New to WWork, glad to be here! I’m a fellow female business owner, took a leap of faith and started the maternity company (www.BellaBMaternity.com) 2 years ago and have been riding the wave ever since and loving it!!
Thank you for saying what I’ve been thinking since the war in Iraq began! The same concept, all you hear is how awful the war is, how many innocent people are being killed, etc. And you NEVER heard or saw photos of the troops doing good, and were never reminded of the purpose they were fighting for, let alone anything positive! I’m sure a lot of you received the emails of “the photos that DON’T make the news” showing soldiers cradling children, praying, and rescuing animals!
So along the same lines, the media portrays all of the news with exaggeration and bias, just pick a channel give it 5 minutes and you can pretty much guess which political affliation the network leans toward! Instead of doing their job as journalists, HELLO- portraying BOTH sides of the story! They spin it and spin it and spin it…. I too have turned off the TV countless times lately, especially during the election!
And I must say I’m a firm believer in the Law of Attraction (c’mon you all know, The Secret) and like you were saying if we keep bombarding Americans with how horrible things are you can take it to the bank that we will get much more of the horrible things coming. Imagine how powerful the imagery must be when you have every American Citizen running the same awful pictures in their minds…. no WONDER things have gone down hill so fast!
On a more positive note, I also am a firm believer that just as easily as things went down they can come back up with equal speed, it’s a matter of all of us doing the work to change our thinking patterns and pull OURSELVES out of the black hole because God knows congress isn’t going to and if you think they will you’re cheating yourself!