January 18, 2013

• 
          

    The Daily News

  
  

  1   I have a confession. I don't care about Lance Armstrong, nor do I care about football players who are liars. What's all the fuss? People need lives, I swear to you.

  
  

  2   Taylor Swift has had thirteen boyfriends in four years. Who cares?

  
  

  3    Dear Abbey has walked into a bar. That's some news, I imagine. 

  
  

  4    I'll stick with watching old movies. 

  
  

  5    If you've been following this nonsense, the last real news I had to report was that I watched an old movie last night about a giant Venusian lizard that was terrorizing all of Italy. 

  
  

  6    That was charming. 

  
  

  7     I am again well into the three a.m. watching this little jewel called Suzy, starring Jean Harlow. It features Cary Grant bursting into song at one point. Delightful stuff. 

  
  

  8    Ah, the joys of conking out early. 

  
  

  9    It's almost as though I am attempting to escape the twenty-first century, and all of its nonsensical yellow journalism.

  
  

  10   Yes, younger generation. They used to have a name for sensationalist news. 

  
  

  11   They called it yellow journalism. It was considered ridiculous by real newspaper people, who at one time were considered the watchdogs of society. 

  
  

  12   I took a journalism course in college at one point, and learned all of this stuff. At 4 a.m. I can't begin any attempt to teach you all of that. 

  
  

  13    So I will once again dip into Wiki, which is one of the worst sources for information on the planet, but which is also one of the easiest, if you consider that perhaps 80% of it is relatively accurate.

  
  

  14   That's far better than what we are getting from mainstream sources, and it fits right in with the idiocy that passes for news in this twenty-first century. 

  
  

  15   What we call news nowadays is a fit of lies, controlled by moguls and scoundrels, and scum like Rupert Murdoch. The masses are being controlled, cajoled, and brainwashed. 

  
  

  16   Ah, vell. Goodness knows where it will all head. 

  
  

  17   For the younger set, I did look over the Wiki article on yellow journalism, and it seems to hold up relatively well with what my professors taught me. I didn't have time to go through all of it, but it looks pretty accurate. 

  
  

  18   Keep in mind that when I put the DN out there, it is two to three hours of inspiration during my insomnia, and is seldom the result of digging deep into stories. 

  
  

  19   It is simply a silly hobby designed to entertain, just like modern journalism. 

  
  

  20   The DN is just a bit more accurate than the mainstream sensationalist drivel. 

  
  

  21   So at the risk of changing all my fonts and pics, here is a short Wiki piece about Yellow Journalism and what it is. See if you see any parallels to modern reporting. 

   

  Yellow Journalism

  
  

  Yellow journalism, or yellow press, is a type of journalism that presents little or no 

  legitimate well-researched news and instead uses eye-catching headlines to sell more newspapers. Techniques include exaggerations of news events, scandal-mongering,

  or sensationalism. By extension the term yellow journalism is used today as a pejorative to decry any journalism that treats news in an unprofessional or unethical

  fashion. 

  
  

  Campbell (2001) defines yellow press newspapers as having daily multi-column front-page headlines covering a variety of topics, such as sports and scandal, using boldlayouts (with large illustrations and perhaps color), heavy reliance on unnamed sources and unabashed reliance on self-promotion. The term was used to describe New York City newspapers about 1900 as they battled for cirulation.

  
  

  Frank Luther Mott (1941) defines yellow journalism in terms of five characteristics:

  1. scare headlines, in huge print, often of minor news.

  
  

  2.  lavish use of pictures, or imaginary drawings.

  
  

  3.  use of faked interviews, misleading headlines, pseudoscience, and a parade of false learning from so-called experts. 

  
  

  4.  emphasis on full-color Sunday supplements, usually with comic strips.

  
  

  5.  dramatic sympathy with the "underdog" against the system.

  
  

  Sources

  
  

  1  W. Joseph Campbell (December 2001). "You Furnish the Legend, I'll Furnish the Quote." American Journalism Review

  
  

  2  Mott, Frank Luther (1941). American Journalism. p 539.

  
  

  23    I originally put the entire article in here, but it ran crazily all over the page. 

  22    Yeesh.

  24   I don't even know if this is being inserted in the middle of the article, or at the end.

  25   I also had around twenty more items, but got a bit too heady and negative. No point.
  

  26   So I'll keep it short today, going into a wonderful three-day.
  

  27   And Taylor Swift has had thirteen boyfriends in four years.

  28   I can't top that.
  

  28   Have a great weekend, and Go Niners!

  29   This issue of the Daily News is possessed.
  

  30   So I'm lighting out early.

  31   Peace.

  ~H~

  

  www.xanga.com/bharrington

  

  
  

  • 10:15 am
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