While on my lunch break, I tuned my car radio to a local eighties station, hoping to drown out the constant background noise of “Iraq this” and “Saddam that” with a little bubbly pop music. Two songs later, and the station airs “an update on the crisis in Iraq”, which includes a full-length news story, complete with sound bites from US military commanders.
Excuse me? What part of “the best music of the eighties, nineties, and beyond” covers up-to-the-minute coverage of carnage halfway around the globe? I want to be informed of world events as much as the next responsible citizen, but I’d prefer to do it on my own time, thank you very much. If I want the news, I’ll listen to a news station. I don’t tune in to NPR to listen to Madonna; why would I expect global news coverage from a music station?
Must the media march in perfect lockstep with the government’s fear-mongering propaganda? Is it not bad enough that I’m bombarded with vague FBI warnings and color-coded stupidity? Does a radio station whose purpose is entertainment also have to be a tool for spreading anxiety? I’m tired of this administration’s attempts to form a permanent state of emergency, and I’m even more tired of the media’s verbatim regurgitation of every last bit of the White House’s agenda.
