Spring Break
Staff Editorial
We Have Issues
Ashley-Grace Ramocan
Issue date: 2/20/09 Section: Opinions and Editorials
As a person who is enthralled by the many ventures of journalism, I often wonder: what qualifies news as news, especially in today's society? What do people look for in our stories?
What hooks them?
I would think the answer would lie in the idea that stories require some substance-something compelling and inspirational or even tragic and dark.
But I wouldn't think that a sight so absurd and, without question, just plain weird would even begin to satiate someone's need for knowledge and understanding.
Well, I think I've lost some faith in our society's taste. Recently, I flipped through one of the local newspapers and found quite an unusual piece.
"Octo-mom" had just recently given birth to 8 infants, all conceived from an alternative impregnation method known as in vitro fertilization.
Keep in mind that her previous 6 children were also conceived through this costly, hi-tech experiment.
Of course, this news catalyzed some sort of hysteria, paranoia and even a warped fascination of motherhood.
Television and radio stations as well as print publications nationwide have made Nadya Suleman and her 14 children household names, ranking their story as high as stimulus plans, Somalia's terror raids and U.S.-Latin American relations.
But does her situation really warrant that much publicity and attention?
People, Suleman and her children are nowhere near quality news.
Maybe the story's only value is found in its irony-that this event was "birthed" by a single mother; one who is quite dependent on a monthly supply of $490 worth of food stamps to care for.
Funny enough only 6 of her children were being taken care of by that government aid according to reports from Fox News.
While CNN and Fox squabble over photos of the mother and try to pinpoint which surgeon is molding her into a freakish cross between Angelina Jolie and Michael Jackson, I will find the time to pay attention to the real world.
Although through this editorial, I may have given her just a few more minutes of unnecessary attention and celebrity status. Well, I guess the joke is on me.
Anyway, I have issues with that.
What hooks them?
I would think the answer would lie in the idea that stories require some substance-something compelling and inspirational or even tragic and dark.
But I wouldn't think that a sight so absurd and, without question, just plain weird would even begin to satiate someone's need for knowledge and understanding.
Well, I think I've lost some faith in our society's taste. Recently, I flipped through one of the local newspapers and found quite an unusual piece.
"Octo-mom" had just recently given birth to 8 infants, all conceived from an alternative impregnation method known as in vitro fertilization.
Keep in mind that her previous 6 children were also conceived through this costly, hi-tech experiment.
Of course, this news catalyzed some sort of hysteria, paranoia and even a warped fascination of motherhood.
Television and radio stations as well as print publications nationwide have made Nadya Suleman and her 14 children household names, ranking their story as high as stimulus plans, Somalia's terror raids and U.S.-Latin American relations.
But does her situation really warrant that much publicity and attention?
People, Suleman and her children are nowhere near quality news.
Maybe the story's only value is found in its irony-that this event was "birthed" by a single mother; one who is quite dependent on a monthly supply of $490 worth of food stamps to care for.
Funny enough only 6 of her children were being taken care of by that government aid according to reports from Fox News.
While CNN and Fox squabble over photos of the mother and try to pinpoint which surgeon is molding her into a freakish cross between Angelina Jolie and Michael Jackson, I will find the time to pay attention to the real world.
Although through this editorial, I may have given her just a few more minutes of unnecessary attention and celebrity status. Well, I guess the joke is on me.
Anyway, I have issues with that.
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