More Headlines About Good Will Towards Man

One of the things I love about this time of year, besides seeing Christmas decorations and hearing holiday music being played nonstop on a few radio stations, is the kindness being reported on.

This is the time of year where newspapers and local and national media networks report how organizations, churches or just a person is having a food drive or is collecting clothes for the needy. Many radio stations have "adopted" a down-on-their-luck family and people will call in, donate money, clothes or food. Most of the time, you will hear a store owner who will donate toys for the family's children or other items that family requires.

Sadly, however, the media only reports these types of stories this time of year, bringing them down from the attic, very much like someone taking the Christmas decorations out and putting them on display. Sure, maybe during the year the local newspaper or network will do a story on how someone showed an act of kindness by helping them out with a payment or a person is trying to keep a half-way house running.

I think one of the best pieces that has been reported this year is Secret Santa Larry Stewart, as reported by Reuters. Back in 1971, he says he was hungry and homeless and a kind soul gave him $20. At that moment, he pledge to God that he would reward that act of kindness by helping others. That started in 1980, by giving someone in need $5.

Today Stewart is a self-made millionaire by investing in cable and telecommunications and has handed out about $1.3 million over the years, he estimates. Depending on the person and situation, Stewart has gone up to them and gave them either a $100 or even as much as $10,000.

"We are all supposed to share our blessings. This is just one way," said 58-year-old Stewart, as Carey Gillam reported, a Reuters’ journalist.

We need more people like Larry Stewart being reported on. I'm not saying the media should ignore the negative aspects of the news but reporting on human kindness is very important as well. It gives hope in a society that is constantly bombarded with stories about rape, murder and war. There is a lot of good that goes unnoticed and I do not see why it cannot make it in the evening news and newspapers more often.

Because we need that balance in a world that has seemingly gone mad.

What Journalism Is And What It Isn't

Journalism is supposed to be about fair and balanced reporting, covering both sides of the issue and allowing the readers/viewers to decide. However, this is not always the case.

Too many networks and newspapers lean towards one side of the political spectrum or the other. The New York Times is accused of being liberal, while FOX News is charged with being too conservative. Sadly, many people say that this is just fine with them because they can go to different stations or newspapers to get information, because each news outlet has its own "political agenda" as some have labeled their stance on certain issues.

This is wrong. A person should be able to go to one news source and feel comfortable with the fact that he or she are getting a just and balanced report on the issue they are reading/watching about.

Sometimes, though, when two people read the same thing, they each have a different opinion on the stances of the writer of the article. This happened to me after the last presidential elections a few years ago while I worked as an editor for a weekly newspaper.

Not believing that newspapers should support any politician because it may cloud their reporting, I took a neutral stance on the elections. I wrote an editorial about a week before the elections were about to take place and it was going to appear a week after the results came in. I finished the editorial after a few days after the election, just to see who one so I could properly name the winner. The editorial basically said that as Americans, we should all come together after the bitter mudslinging fight and should support President Bush, as well as Sen. Kerry.

Well, I received two letters to the editor, with one person saying I supported Bush, while the other accused me of being a Kerry supporter. I ran both letters and wrote an editorial, stating how interesting the reactions were, considering I wrote the editorial a week before the elections results came in.

Thus, this proves my point that some readers and viewers decide what a news outlet's political leanings are. And that is true. Even the most objective reporter and editor cannot do anything about that. However, it is also true, from personal experience, that certain news organizations will put their own political slant on certain news stories or intentionally not even bothering to include certain views.

But that is a blog for another day.

Originally posted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Barbie's S&M Headline Misleading?

Do you know what burns my bacon? Media sensationalism just to sell a few newspapers and extreme Christian groups that try to suck the fun out of life; so yeah, there’s a double-bonus of bacon burning in this edition’s column.

First, the headline from the U.K.’s The Sun reads, “S&M Barbie lashed by public.” But once you read the story, you find out that Mattel is really releasing a Barbie doll that is dressed like the DC comics superhero Black Canary. They have previously released a Barbie version of fellow DC comics heroines Batgirl, Wonder Woman and Supergirl, just to name a few.

Granted, Black Canary does dress in leather and fishnet stockings, so it’s really not a real S&M look she has, but more of a biker-stripper look going on. This may not ease a lot of parents, but considering that Wonder Woman has been parading around in her star-spangled panties for more than 65 years, Black Canary’s outfit is an improvement and covers more.

Now considering that the U.K. is famous for its S&M outlet stores, clubs and such games as, Whip The Donkey’s Tail, it is understandable why The Sun thought a superhero might have been one of former New York Democratic Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s call girls. But with the Internet and Wikipedia around, it would be a simple search to find out if Black Canary was really into S&M or she just wears her leather outfit just to annoy PETA.

Sensationalism has no place in journalism, but sadly, shoddy publications do make room for it.

But now we come to the other half of the bacon burning: The Christian side.

“Barbie has always been on the tarty side and this is taking it too far. A children’s doll in sexually suggestive clothing is irresponsible – it’s filth,” stated the religious group Christian Voice, as reported by The Sun.

Yes, it can’t be denied that everyone’s favorite plastic, blonde doll does dress like a tart, maybe a bit slutty at times. Hell, she looks like a hooker in some of the outfits that I’ve put her in.

Besides, even if parents are going to buy the Black Canary for their daughter, I would like to think a young girl at that age doesn’t know about such things as S&M.

But these extreme Christian groups have to remember that most little girls usually take Barbie’s clothes off faster than G.I. Joe on shore leave anyway. So having her in fishnet stockings isn’t that much of a big deal.