News & Views

I've just returned from viewing "Goodnight, And Good Luck,' the story of Edward R. Murrow, who publicly confronted and exposed Senator McCarthy on the air for exactly what he was - an empty suit blowing smoke. This was journalism at its finest hour.

For those of us old enough to remember when the major network's News Division was separate from the Entertainment Division, that was a time when television journalism had a backbone. Huntley and Brinkley. Walter Cronkite. Those day are long past. Pablum now replaces investigation.

Indeed many times our backbones for the truth have come and gone, each with the advent of a new technology. First, Guttenburg and the printing press. Then radio. Then television. Each heralded what was believed to be a new era of an informed public. Each ended predominantly as an entertainment medium.

But as time has taught us repeatedly, we are the empty suits blowing smoke. Don't make me wrestle with ideas. Entertain me.

As I drove home, I plugged in my iPod.. And while I was listening to some podcasts of network news, I did eventually put it into Shuffle mode. Don't make me wrestle with ideas. Entertain me.

A new technology reaching the masses, teaching the masses, entertaining the masses. But from all that I listen to, there is not much informing of the masses. Will Murrows, Cronkites or Buckleys arise from this new medium? For our sake, I hope so.

Thomas Jefferson, the author of The Declaration of Independence said, "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism." As I look at the world situation(s), I can only hope that we do not relegate podcasting to the same dust bin. Knowledge is too important.