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The End of a News Era
"It seems like a teenager would be the last person to say this, but I think we need some more traditional anchors who will just tell us what happened that day."
By Nico Savidge
With the recent passing of news anchor Peter Jennings, Youth Radio's Nico Savidge reflects on the new era of news coverage. As opposed to the nightly news that Americans tuned into every evening, Nico points out that his generation, "has grown up with at least five different 24-hour news channels."
Is the era of the great news anchors over?
Peter Jennings’ death marked the end of the “Big Three” nightly news anchors of Jennings, Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather. For decades, these men led some of the only broadcasts that the entire country saw.
But my generation has grown up with at least five different 24-hour news channels. I think that young people these days might not know who Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings are - but they do know opinionated pundits like Tucker Carlson and James Carville.
For my news, I turn to The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Even though Stewart describes the show as “Fake News,” it carries influence. The Daily Show’s “news” segments sometimes shows old video clips that you wouldn’t see on most networks - scenes like Donald Rumsfeld meeting with Saddam Hussein in the 80s. I think that’s the kind of news that people should be seeing, because it’ll expose the government’s hypocrisy. You can probably get more in-depth coverage of certain stories in ten minutes of the Daily Show than you would in one hour of CNN, though it does tend to lean to the left.
And there are plenty of news shows that lean to the right as well. The lack of fairness on ultra-opinionated shows like The O’Reilly Factor and CNN’s Crossfire makes them just as “fake” as the Daily Show. With a declining number of people watching nightly network news programs, and pundits becoming more prominent news sources, we may see the decline of unbiased news. I think it’s even a good possibility that networks like NBC, CBS and ABC could have to lure viewers back with new hosts who would bring their political loyalties with them to their reports.
It seems like a teenager would be the last person to say this, but I think we need some more traditional anchors who will just tell us what happened that day, instead of Tucker Carlson with his bowtie, giving me his take on every news story. I want my news to come from someone who looks professional and doesn’t dress himself like a five-year-old at his uncle’s third wedding.
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