More Than A Feeling

I love Boston. As a kid I spent a lot of time in the city and camped and traveled around Salem and Lynn. Like everyone, I was shocked and saddened by the violence and death this past Monday. My thoughts go out to all of those suffering. I am also angry, yes of course at who did it, but also of all of the television stations out of Boston.

I wrote a rather light hearted commentary this past February about how excited all of the television stations in Boston seem to get every time it snows. It seemed anything beyond a flurry caused them to halt regular programming and broadcast the storm 24/7. They of course did this again this past week. I understand this was an important story, and regular programming needed to be interrupted... but... Most of the Boston stations rolled the news of the bombing non-stop for close to 36 hours, even though there was not actually any new news to report beyond the first hour or so. It was almost 'Hunger Games' like how they replayed the bombing OVER AND OVER and replayed the runners OVER AND OVER and almost excitedly looked for any new tidbit, no matter how tiny, to report. There was speculation, there were mistakes, there were wrong connections made and ties to Al-Qaeda made long before any proof or actual arrests. 

Some of the scenes were played so often, any meaning they once had, was sucked out of anyone viewing them. After watching for awhile on Monday night, I switched over hoping to take a mental break by watching The Voice. The Boston NBC of course was not airing it. I didn't care, I found it online. The Voice however, coming loudly and repeatedly from the NBC station, as well as CNN, ABC, CBS and Fox was not the voice of news, it was one of exploitation. Network News, especially in Boston I believe, is about as much about news as the countless celebrity gossip shows. If it were about news, we would have only seen news.  The death and pain in Boston for these channels, became quickly, and clearly, about ratings and money.