A Post About a Post Written About Other Posts

Bora at A Blog Around the Clock recently ( as in a few minutes ago) did a post talking about what is considered newsworthy and why. In it he quotes other bloggers and articles and has some really great things to say about it all. I guess I am not having a creative moment and can't come up with a post of my own, but what he had to say was very true. To quote:

"...when you sit in front of the TV, you become, like most people, a passive consumer. Everything on the screen becomes interesting. If a pollster calls you and asks you what topics you are interested in, you will probably note the exact same topic you were just watching a show about. If it was a show about celebrity, you will say that you find celebrity news interesting...

...if there was something else on TV, like a nature show with David Attenborough, they would find that interesting instead. And they did - for years. Nature and science shows used to be very popular. Why are they not any more? Because people don't see them any more, so they don't know (and don't tell the pollsters) they would be interested."

I like this. I think science and nature shows are extremely important. I didn't have cable as a kid, but shows like Beakman's World, Mr. Wizard, NOVA, Bill Nye the Science Guy, 321 Contact and more were on regular stations that we could pick up with our TV antenna (do those still exist?) and those shows really really had an impact on me as a child. Now, the only place to watch things like this are on cable channels and even still, they are few and far between.

Why aren't the topics I write about newsworthy?!?! Because I don't own a TV station. I'm not an advertiser. I can't control what you watch therefore making it interesting to you. Hopefully people will start wanting to know more about things science related. It has more of an impact on lives than what Brad Pitt is wearing.

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