Monday, September 08, 2008

Lowest Common Denominator

As long as I can remember, I've been a 'gotta watch the morning news' kinda gal. As I've grown, I've begun paying attention to different parts of the news ... and today a realization hit me ...

I've often been frustrated with The Today Show in the past. Mostly because I'm shocked at what they consider "newsworthy" items on which to report. Granted, they now have 4 hours to fill. (Another point of frustration for me. When I started watching, it was 2 hours long. I remember when they added the 9 0'clock hour and vividly recall thinking, "What in the world are they going to talk about for another hour?" ... and now ... they've added the 10 o'clock hour too. And in my opinion - they don't really have anything to talk about during it.) Today, I was shocked at the realization that they have to report to the lowest common denominator in their viewing audience ... and that makes me scared for the future ... Let me explain.

They've been running segments for the last couple of weeks about saving money and how to live more financially responsibly. Fine. Most of these segments have been relatively interesting and have brought up some decent points. I didn't see all of today's segment, but what I did see was about what costs one should and should not cut. The experts on today were adamant that you should cut out your cable bill before you cut out your health insurance. Umm ... yeah ... DUH!

Upon reflection, I have the following to say. I have realized that this is a loose-loose situation here. First, The Today Show honestly felt that their viewing audience would benefit from this report - meaning that there are people out there who needed to hear that one should cut expenses like cable before insurance. And on the other hand, I'm a loyal Today Show viewer. And while I did not need to hear this, a large enough portion of their viewing audience did. Which once again ... makes me scared for the future ...

1 comment:

Tanya Bruce said...

You'd be surprised where people's priorities are, though. In my line of work I get to listen to people explain why they think they need to take money out of their retirement account.

No, you can't have your retirement money because you overspent on designer clothes/purses/jewelery and now need to pay the credit card bill.

And (the kicker) there are actually people who, after hearing that they can withdraw from their retirement if they are under threat of foreclosure/eviction will simply stop paying their mortgage/rent until they get the proper documents to show us that they are now under threat of foreclosure/eviction.

I just don't get it.