Lots of Easter snow greeted us this morning. Our pandemic in South Dakota seems to pale in comparison to what the world was witnessing just 75 years ago today.
The whole globe was also in turmoil that day. I notice the seemingly heroic coverage of the Germans’ Armaggedon in one of the articles, as if the world was more Wagnerian at that time. People then were dying in great numbers, both military and civilians, but don’t look for the morbid obsession with numbers that you find today.
Even so, the news topics were treated a lot more matter-of-factly in those days, but decidedly unfair by today’s journalistic standards. There was no attempt to cheer-lead the military successes so that readers would be clear about who they should be rooting for. We don’t see interviews by wives back home crying about this or that hardship or loss. There are no attempts to portray the misery of enemy casualties or interviews with distraught civilians.
Missing, too, is that perverse sense of “balance” or “fairness” we find in news accounts today, parading one dissenting political perspective after another, cherry-picking what’s considered newsworthy. Most of those commenting on the evening news are big city Democrats, or scalawag GOP like McCain or Romney.
Can we say news has come a long way? Is it for better or for worse?
If you can’t read news text on an Apple, press Command Key and +/= Key to make bigger. Substitute Control Key for Command Key if using Windows.