sensationalism - noun - (in journalism) use of exciting or shocking stories or language at the expense of accuracy in order to provoke public interest (Google).
Throughout history, journalistic sensationalism has played a huge, egregious role, and it is still omnipresent today. I don't know about you, but I have pretty much given up hope in ever coming face to face with one-hundred-percent accurate reportage from any one media source. Much of what you see and read on social media is completely erroneous. What can be considered "news" that I pay attention to I either witness myself or hear secondhand from valued friends who would never fall into a pot hole as deep as sensationalism.
Case in point, this past Monday night, an award-winning storyteller, one of my closest SoCal pals, someone with whom I attended undergraduate school, held about fifty barflies rapt with her personal account of the L.A. ICE protests back in June. She was one of about 10K peaceful protestors towards the front of the procession downtown. According to her eye-witness account, the news media ignored her and her benign colleagues in activism in favor of filming some one hundred whose anger and frustration caused them to torch a few Waymo electric cars on the side of the freeway. The media took an isolated incident and exploded it so that Americans throughout the country walked away from their screens with an inaccurate, negative impression of what was in actuality nothing like what was recorded on video.
Three days after hearing my friend's story, I volunteered to serve food to homeless people in a Venice restaurant. I had not been called into Bread and Roses for at least a month as my services were not needed. What I witnessed yesterday with my own eyes amounted to a truth that reporters were not privy to. No matter what laws are bandied about in D.C., the homeless problem is not going away. From my perspective, it is getting worse. I served about 150 individuals, mainly young, white men, within three hours. Seriously, I didn't think they would stop coming. We were that busy. Ease-dropping on one conversation, I learned that although at least one of the many was actively looking for a job, he was not finding any. Hence, based on my own observations, I can infer that if you are reading that the economy is improving, just know that it isn't here in Los Angeles.
The aforementioned examples are true. You won't find this kind of verity online or on TV. Whatever you experience yourself, you can believe. Don't be fooled by agencies who are just trying to make money by infiltrating reality with fantasy.
Just sayin'.
#social commentary, #blog, #blogger, #writing community, #truth, #sensationalism
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