What has happened to the news?

I’m serious. I really want to know. It seems that news broadcasts have been dumbed down to the point that they are more like poorly written sitcoms than they are an accounting of local and national news. If I want to be entertained, I’ll watch a movie. If I want to be informed, I watch the news. So keep it to the news.

There’s a local station here in the ATL – Channel 11 - that I started watching years ago because my husband watches it. I grew up on plain old, white-bread, to-the-point Ch. 2 Action News. I am now guiding my husband through making the switch back to Ch. 2 News. Why? Because the Channel 11 News has gotten so silly that I get irritated when I watch it. Fridays are the worst. They have brought in a woman to tell viewers about weekend goings-on. I have no idea where she came from, but she has an irritating, gravelly voice and she throws in the word “girl” a lot. Make that “Girrrrrlllll….” All she’s missing is the chicken neck and the 3-way snap to polish her routine. She may have already added it, I don’t know. I haven’t watched Channel 11 on Fridays for months now.

My most recent pet peeve is the addition of Ne-Ne to the news team. What? Ne-Ne? Apparently she hails from the show “Real Housewives of Atlanta.” She is an attitude-y, mouthy woman who is so impressed with herself that she really doesn’t need an audience. She is ridiculous. She has no qualifications to deliver the news or anything related to news. Yet she’s there.

Maybe I’m old fashioned, but give me the news with a straight face. Don’t snap your fingers. Don’t warn me about how the humidity is going to affect my weave “girrrlllll.” Don’t waste my time trying out the As-Seen-on-TV crap that 9 times out of 10 is a ripoff anyway. And do not show me events in which African-American icons sit and spend time with the kids of the African-American news anchors, then tell us what a moment in history we just witnessed. Last time I checked, EVERYONE needs to learn the lessons of Dr. King, not just the dressed up kids of the news anchors. And don’t even start with me by pulling out the race card. EVERYONE needs to learn Dr. King’s lessons. No one benefits from a staged dog-and-pony show. Please.

Oh and since when are news anchors supposed to try to dissect and explain news stories? I missed that class in college. Report it baby. I can think for myself.

OK I feel better now. Just thought I’d share that. I’ll be funny again tomorrow.