News coverage

I spent a fair amount of time in airports and airplanes yesterday, so there was a constant drum of CNN and newspapers and newsmagazines. The depth of coverage of stories on the TV news was incredibly shallow -- I timed one story labelled as "in-depth" at 4 minutes 10 seconds.

Our kids played soccer when they were very young. Watching 4 and 5 year old kids play soccer is pretty entertaining. They all cluster around the bal trying to kick it. Eventually it pops out and they whole group runs over to swarm the ball in its new location. The goalie, bored, wanders off to look at an interesting bug or leaf.

I think that's a pretty good picture of the news coverage today -- sensationalized, no strategic insights and shallow thinking, no one putting two and two together over time and geography.

But then I remember: this news format is a product of what people want, and Satan is delighted to help out.