North. East. West. South.

I haven't posted in a while.


This is because I'm not in the habit of speaking when I have nothing to say.


I promise this pattern will continue.


Today's topic is journalism, or lack thereof.


I get most of my news by watching the Daily Show.


I know, tsk tsk.


But as an interesting experiment, I have done what others have dreaded, fearing the devastating effects on the rational human mind.


I watched cable news for a whole day.


Here are my thoughts:


The job of the objective journalist is to try and show the meaning of events in a societal context.


Any one piece of news is uninteresting, the job of an objective journalist is to show the larger meaning behind events.


Bias is not a central issue, because it's impossible to eliminate. The reader is left to decide whether they agree or disagree.


This is the style exemplified by Edward R. Murrow. In spite of enormous social pressure, he unmasked McCarthy as a vile demagogue. The interesting point is that the objective truth about McCarthy was an opinion.


The whole point of freedom of speech is that we can state our opinions as fact. They can be argued, debated, ridiculed, but they can always be said.


Here's what I've learned from watching our news;


We're a mute society.


For some reason, the alphabet soup networks, (CNN, MSNBC, ABC) have decided that impartiality is an element of good journalism.


They have made the news so impartial that it has become inhuman. It's a constant stream of simple data, each fact having no more importance than the next.


It's the news for robots.


They speak and blather, but they don't SAY anything.


CNN is so obsessed with their weird tech toys that half the time they have no idea what they are saying.


MSNBC must have an entire team working on a way to shove more jabbering heads onto a single TV screen.


ABC fills it's news hours with meaningless stories with absolutely no purpose.


They all have the same problem, they're unwatchable by human beings.


After watching the news for a full 24-hours I can honestly say there is only one network that still does journalism.


Fox News.


Gasp. Ack. Vomit. That was hard to write.


But no matter how heinously wrong, intentionally deceitful and totally, mind-bendingly stupid, they say what they think.


Fox News does the news for human beings.


Scared, angry, and ultimately unfortunate human beings.


That's why they have higher ratings than any other network, because no matter how perverted, foolish and wrong they are, they are telling the truth. As they see it.


Don't get me wrong, they knowingly lie all the time. Their "opinions" are carefully manufactured by a industrial complex designed to manufacture divisive opinions.


But they don't lack for a point of view.


And in our mute society, the man with the voice is king.


But there is hope.


There is real demand for the Truth. And a few years ago that demand found a supply.


The essence of political comedy is Truth.


The thing that makes one laugh, is the way the comedian deconstructs the half truths that we all pay lip service to, to expose the real Truth underneath.


If a political comedian is not truthful, they are not funny and quickly need a new line of work.


This is why I watch the Daily Show. They are the only news program whose economic incentive is to tell the truth.


The Daily Show and the Colbert Report have succeeded because they do the news for human beings.


Bright, funny, and ultimately reasonable human beings.


They have become a force for real, positive news.


But this cannot last.


They didn't sign up for this.


Someone needs to take up the torch.
Someone needs to speak the truth.
Someone needs to reclaim that clarion call:


The Vox Populi


The Voice of the People.


So my question is:


What have you SAID recently?