Thoughts from the Publisher | June 17

[aesop_character name=”Neena Strichart” caption=”Publisher” align=”center”] Growing up as an only child, I spent hours in front of the television. Although my parents were low to middle class, they made sure that I had my own small television by about the age of 7. I appreciated then, and still do, their understanding of the boredom that an only child can experience. Although I had many neighborhood friends at that age, the evenings and early mornings were quite lonely— that is until I was given my very own TV set.
I suppose those early experiences are responsible for my current overwhelming obsession with television.
After the tragedy that happened in Orlando earlier this week, I have found myself naturally glued to the TV in order to keep up-to-date on the latest news reports surrounding the horrible incident. Flipping back and forth between CNN, Fox News, NBC, ABC and CBS, I found so many different takes on the event that I ended up with a splitting headache from trying to sort out opinion from fact.
I usually rely on KTLA (channel 5) for my local news. Unfortunately, because my television carrier, Dish Network, was, and still is in negotiations with Tribune Media over a rate increase, our access to KTLA went dark right around the time that the Orlando catastrophe took place.
With that being the case, and my mad search for answers on the Orlando happening leading me to more mainstream news sources, I found the commentary offered by each television newscaster to vary tremendously. One group focused on the victims, another on the family members of the killer, and yet others on their own opinions of the political responses/impacts due to the horrific event that took place in Orlando.
The one thing they all had in common was their own ad nauseum repetition of pictures and video that accompanied their news casting, as well as their own interpretations of what might be the causes of what took place.
I still don’t know where to turn for the truth on the matter, and today I had pop into my mind the famous line delivered by Detective Sergeant Joe Friday from the old television show Dragnet, “All we want are the facts, ma’am.”
I agree with Joe.