News or Reality Television

While on my way to get lunch today, I was listening to the Marc Steiner show on WYPR . He had a representative of Sinclair Broadcasting on, if memory serves me right (I have not been able to verify it exactly who it was just yet), and they and a couple others were discussing the recent changes to the FCC rules on media ownership. During the discussion, this representative referred to their news program as their "news product."

News Product?

Is that how television news is viewed today? Just another half hour or hour long slot of programming to get ratings and attract advertisers? Are they staffed with a team of journalists or are they just cast members? Am I the only one that finds this appalling?

Television (or print, or whatever other media type comes up) news is not a product. If anything, it should be considered a service. The Constitution guarantees Freedom of the Press. Not Freedom of the Real World or Survivor. Objective (and subjective, for that matter) reporting from a multitude of sources (not just the two or three media companies that will own almost everything in a few years) is absolutely essential to maintain an informed populace, which is a key component to an effective democracy.

I don't normally get too political here, but this remark had me practically jumping out of my seat. I'm sure you can understand why.