Media Malaise or Something More

Since I sat on a bench after jail time for a half hour--postponing a pee mind you--talking to a Daily News reporter I was kinda curious about what he would write. So I checked it out the next morning. Nada. This happens all the time but later when I was reading the New York Times there was a spare article back on page 20. The reporting was disappointing to boot.
Later, the local public station had a call-in about the Occupy event so I made my first call-in. I kept it simple: "My wife and I left Citibank and moved to a cooperative bank because of OWS." Other than reading The Nation http://www.thenation.com/blog/170001/more-180-arrested-occupy-wall-streets-first-anniversary that brief conversation on the radio was the only true coverage of what happened over this past weekend.



I'm at the age when dopey things bother me on a lower level. This is not because I'm so centered it's because I don't want to waste the energy. But occasionally something comes along to qualify as a prime number one head scratcher and the oversight by the media of Occupy's anniversary--and it's observation is either intentional or lazy. I had the same feeling about Trinity Church's recalcitrance over the use of their Duarte Park property. Plainly reasonable always remains plainly reasonable. In the case of a lack of media coverage that has become the story. Read The Nation story above to see what I mean.



I can appreciate how an editor must choose the very top stories--Mitt Romney's gaff in Boca Raton was a big scoop--but daylong demonstrations and nearly 200 arrests should have come up on somebody's radar. The only conclusion is that another factor is at play; I resist this kind of tinfoil hat thinking because it leads to a paranoia which just isn't so.

But this fallow, news aftermath brings this into focus: this whole power system is inter-related. I've always depended on the freedom of the press--Walter Lippman-like--to lead my reflection because I don't have the time do so. We've always had a compact that newspapers, et al. could be a benign oligarchy to dig in with due diligence and get the facts. Those days died out and we have organs which respond to advertising and entertainment needs. Why? Because they need the money. A questionable focus in this instance. Where's the  news?