News anchor refuses to cover lead story on Paris Hilton
 

http://www.milkandcookies.com/link/63635/detail/

Good for her I say!

I LOVE HER.

The first step towards a better place where we can appreciate relevant news, and not just fluff.

Damn, everything is fluff... and there is but a tiny little stem inside of this cotton world we have created. :sad:

A news person with dignity? Judging by the way she used that lighter she obviously doesn't smoke, or just got her nails done.

Too bad the other anchors still dragged the story out for 15 seconds probably to appease their producers.

I was really hoping that thing would burn. Too bad she couldnt get the flame going :( Good for her though, with everything going on in the world, you should not LEAD with a Paris story.

fucking right! i'm so sick of this bitch on every fucking news! Even on the french public tv, they mentionned it and it's sick.

I wanted it to burn the paper, then burn the studio? I thought it would have made a great fark headline. Is that bad?

And yet here we are talking about Paris Hilton, or at least drawn to a related item.

One of my favourite stories as a kid was Br'er Rabbit and the Tar Baby. It's a charming Trickster fable, but given the shameful origins of the term "Tar Baby", it's no longer in favour.

We've yet to come up with an appealing, contemporary alternative to "Tar Baby" but I think Paris Hilton is pretty damn close.

EDIT (Having actually watched the clip): Now that's great TV! They did the best they could filling the story's alloted time without too much name dropping. I hope she isn't punished for her actions.

As much as I hate bringing up Paris at all, (I wish the bitch would just vanish) I felt the need to post this because it's about time SOMEONE is taking a stand about this shit. I don't watch the news very much, but if I do watch it I expect to see real news, not shit about 'TomKat' or Paris fucking Hilton. If I wanted to see that, I could watch E!.

Also, that news anchor was pretty hot imo.

Dude, you are one of the only people I know who KNOWS that story... most people give me a blank stare when I mention it. It came out of one of my favorite book of fables and folk tales, as a kid.

I guess I don't know enough about the shameful origins part, though.

/Googles...

Try reading the story aloud someday. And explain the odd spelling and language to a bright pair of kids who are puzzled by the oddities in this particular story. The idea behind the Tar Baby is universal but could use an updated packaging to make it accessible for youngsters. But then again, I have also always had trouble with authors such as Samuel Clemens and his written renditions of slave dialect, so perhaps we all could use some more education, eh?

hmmm . . . a fellow going on 50 begins to wonder just what the term "youngster" ought to connote, hearing that abaya has had few folks ken what she speaks of when the Tar Baby gets mentioned.

/end threadjack

Damn.... I even like the movie.. Song of the South...

Maybe they should take down Splash Mountain since it's the tale told by Uncle Remus...

Such a relief to see a news anchor who truly can tell the difference between real news and E!news.

/continues threadjack...

Now, how did a story originating from West Africa end up getting turned into a derogatory reference towards African Americans? That's something I'd like to know.

And about Splash Mountain (one of my favorites):

yeah well.. you know.. han solo shot first and all...

Flash Mountain NFSW

this was the exact purpose of this thread...


to forget and bury the stupid and trivial news, in turn, lean towards a more prevalent discussion of real issues :thumbsup:

yeah well...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...infoporn_f.gif

Pretty circles!

The saddest thing is, if America wasn't obsessed with Paris... it would be some other immature bimbo.

Don't hate the player, hate the game.

It makes me happy, she will probably lose her job, but well worth it!

So is Joe a flaming dick, or just terrified of the threats coming over his earbuds?

Right on, Mika.

Yay, Mika! Yay, Br'er Bear, Br'er Rabbit and Uncle Remus!! Boo, PH, uber- political sensitivity and fluff and and the briar patch! ;) briar patch gave me nightmares for a night or two...
cont'd threadjack/
Kramus: I'd read the Tom Sawyer/Huckleberry Finn books before they were sanitized and, while they were a difficult read for a 12 year old, they were great as written. Another southern vernacular book, Cold Sassy Tree, is less 'racial', but very endearing. I found nothing that would make me think less of anyone because of how those were written. /end threadjack
It would seem, in an effort to offend less, we end up with the very mindless fluff Mika was trying to avoid and thusly, end up offending even more by deliberately dumbing down vital information and news that does have an impact on everyone and instead report on shit that affects no one.

I now officially love her for refusing to read anything about paris, most especially as a lead.

I typed a big long post about my theory why Paris is so popular.. then my mozilla crashed and I lost it... so I'll just say.. Paris sucks and Mika's refusal to talk about her was a scripted plow to give her show an ounce of credibility. Sorry Mika, like everyone else on tv, I can't trust you.

I guess I'm confused by the whole thing about showing "real" news. Why is everyone so concerned that Paris was on 10 stations? So what? Can't you find another media source?

A newspaper, magazine, web news, something?

Why does it matter what one network chooses to air or chooses not to air? I pay mild attention to Paris because she is amusing, and I wouldn't be terribly upset if certain TV stations were Paris Hilton 24/7. Likewise, I wouldn't care if certain TV stations were 24/7 exposure to world news.

Most importantly -- what makes something more or less "real" news?

Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people. --- Eleanor Roosevelt

Great minds voice their own opinions; Average minds voice the opinions of others ; Weak minds voice Eleanor Roosevelt's opinion. --- JinnKai

Why is Eleanor Roosevelt the arbiter of all things "great" and "weak"?

where is the word "weak" in Eleanor's quote?

She isn't the arbiter. It expressed my disdain for gossip quite well and sucinctly.

Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people. --- Eleanor Roosevelt

Her implication is that those who discuss people are inherently small-minded (weak-minded is synonymous). So your "disdain for gossip" stems from a belief that you are superior (either "average" or "great") because you don't discuss people? It's nothing more than condescension?

If I knew people's obsession with showing "real" news was simply intellectual masturbation ("oh, I'm too smart for this"), I wouldn't have asked.

Nothing of the sort. The gossip column is located on Page Six, hence the name of it within the tabloid press. There are 5 other pages to devote to issues of more grave nature than Britney Spears not wearing underwear, Paris Hilton talking about finding God, or Lindsay Lohan going back to rehab. I don't have any issue with them being bandied about, I do have issue with it when it becomes headline news. People died in Iraq the day that Paris went to jail, but that was page 2 news.

There is a time and place for everything. People discuss people that is the nature of people, normally though I talk about people that have a direct connection to me, family, extended family, friends.

And probably 600 or more died in the Sudan and internment camps of Uganda via starvation. I can almost see your argument that death is more "newsworthy" than The Life of Paris Hilton, but it all boils down to popularity.

The reason that the death of "2 soldiers" of ours in Iraq is big news to you is because they're more 'popular' and more present in your mind than the thousands dying of starvation in the 20 years war or Uganda.

So ultimately its only "headline news" because she's popular. It's a sad truth that the life of Paris Hilton is more popular than the death of soldiers or children, but that's how it is.

And that's why I feel that anyone claiming Paris shouldn't be news is participating in mental masturbation - she's there for a reason, and she's more newsworthy than the death of soldiers or children.

I think there should be more news about the international travesties occurring every day, but I would never claim that Paris Hilton shouldn't be on the news, because of it.

I disagree with you. She doesn't affect anyone's life. She may entertain people, but that belongs to entertainment news, like E!

I respect that journalist, and her willingness to draw the line on what it acceptable.