"Idol" atry

This happened last week, so it's already old news. But it points to a larger problem.

A new winner was selected on American Idol. I never watch the show and I couldn't care less. The point is, the event was a major news item. I wish I could remember exactly when TV shows became news. Even though I don't watch the show, I was inundated with information about it. I found myself switching channels, trying to avoid learning more details.

The hot news right now isn't the recent "Idol"atry, but the birth of another celebrity baby. I know the child's name and that she was born in Namibia. I learned this while, again, trying to avoid these useless tidbits. But they are relentless.

Sports is news. Entertainment is news. Celebrities are news.

Rarely we here real news. It took three days for the networks to adequately cover the earthquake in Indonesia. Some of them glossed over the riots in Afghanistan. I had to read the initial allegations of a massacre in Iraq on the the internet because only one network covered it, and then very briefly. (Although the neglect was almost better than when I heard a Sunday political commentator allege that perhaps the Iraqi civilians deserved to be killed.)

Today Memorial Day is news. This always perplexes me too. Holidays come consistently every year. Why are they news? We anticipate them. Rituals never really change. What's new about that?

I miss Walter Cronkite.