Embarrasing

This is going to be one of those weeks where I am embarrassed to be in the media.  The source of this embarrassment will be the absolute overkill in Royal Wedding coverage. 

The promos running on ABC Television highlights at least ten anchors, reporters and show hosts that will be "covering" every aspect of the "historic" event.  How many of those reporters and anchors were dispatched to cover the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis in Japan?  Five, maybe six in all?  And how many hours of non-newscast time was dedicated to live coverage of that disaster?  Not many that I can remember.  But, ABC News is more than proud to trumpet its "commitment" to covering "the news that affects you".  Yeah, who designed and made the royal wedding dress really affects my life--much more than the release of massive amounts of nuclear radiation into the atmosphere.

It's overkill on meaningless pop culture items like the Royal Wedding that continues driving more people away from the "mainstream" electronic media sources to the "new age" sources of information like blogs and social media.  CNN promotes Lindsay Lohan being sent to jail as "Breaking News"--and then wonders why its viewership is less than Swamp People on History Channel.  Why not try to bring us actual news from Afghanistan or Libya?  You're telling me people wouldn't tune in for live war coverage--or stories about American soldiers and their experiences?

My hope is that a REAL MAJOR NEWS STORY breaks on Friday morning.  Nothing disastrous--like another killer earthquake or a Space Shuttle explosion--but something definitely more important than a government figurehead getting hitched.  Friday would be a good day for US troops to capture Osama Bin Laden--or for Quadafi to decide to surrender his dictatorship.  Imagine the consternation in those New York newsrooms as decisions need to be made: cover something actually important to all of us--or stick with the pointless commitment to a social event.    Maybe it's time to produce WWCD? bracelets.  What Would Cronkite Do?

Oh by the way, WOSH will NOT be carrying the two hours of live Royal Wedding coverage being offered by ABC Radio.