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I stopped at the bar for a quick beer Tuesday night after my wife got home from work - my little reward for another Daddy Daycare session successfully completed. The NBC Nightly News was coming on, and the lead story was the recent arrival of the Royal Bundle of Joy. The broadcast ended with another segment on the same topic. By my calculations, coverage of His Infant Majesty amounted to ten minutes of the thirty-minute broadcast, minus commercials, of course.
This was wall-to-wall, as you well know. Don't get me wrong: I love babies. I have a baby. I'm crazy about babies... but seriously? Something like 370,000 babies are born every single day, folks.
There is nothing else going on in the world worthy of a full third of a national news broadcast?
The Wednesday morning edition of Truthout carried stories on the murder of Trayvon Martin, banking industry reform, the dangers of the food industry, taxing the rich, climate change, public schools and unions, and the plight of the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. In other words, stuff you really need to know.
If you want to fill your precious time with stories about British royals having kids, then have a blast with the "mainstream" news media that is only too happy to cater to your desires. If real news is what you need, however, then please help support Truthout's work in bringing it to you. Make a tax-deductible donation tonight.
You can also donate by check, made payable to:
Truthout, P.O. Box 276414, Sacramento, CA 95827
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Truthout, P.O. Box 276414, Sacramento, CA 95827
(Please include your email address on your check.)
William Rivers Pitt, Columnist and Editor
