While I wish I had the time to write a much longer article about the state of television journalism in this country, I would probably need months to do the proper research.  Instead, I'm going to jot down a few notes about what I saw on the news today, and I hope you'll respond with your own thoughts and/or observations.

Today: 3:15 PM -- I'm watching Family Feud as I eat lunch.  (Please don't judge me too harshly.  Occasionally a man just needs to hear the top 6 reasons he might get kicked out of a casino.)  Suddenly, a news break: "Paris Hilton ordered back to jail!"  Now, I realize that the news has changed over the years.  There was a time when news programming wasn't at the mercy of ratings, and that time has passed.  Celebrity gossip is now headline material.  But now they're breaking into other shows just to announce that a celebrity, who's famous just for being famous, has been ordered by the court to do something she was already ordered to do?

4:00 PM -- I'm watching Boston's Channel 7 News, and what's the first story?  Well, not surprisingly, it's Paris Hilton.  Okay, fine.  I saw this one coming.

4:02 PM -- Story #2: A woman in NH was sexually assaulted today, and her attacker is now on the run...and armed with a handgun...and the police are looking for help in order to track down the assailant.  Um...pardon me, but if there's an armed, crazy, sex offender running through someone's neighborhood, could we please hear about this before learning about the all important Paris Hilton?

4:05 PM -- Story #3: Former Mayor Buddy Cianci is denied the opportunity to work in Boston.  Okay, this is hardly exciting, and I could care less, but at least this could be of some interest to the people of both Providence and Boston.

4:07 PM -- Story #4: An African-American teenager was shot in Dorchester today.  He was taken to the hospital, and it appears he'll make a full recovery.  Well, this is certainly newsworthy.  What's interesting, though, is that we heard nothing about the assailant and nothing about the victim.  Was the shooter caught?  Is he on the run?  Was the victim alone?  With friends?

Now, someone playing devil's advocate might say, "Hey, maybe the information wasn't released yet.  Maybe the news team doesn't have answers to those questions."  Okay, fair enough.  Strangely, though, during the report about the woman who was assaulted in New Hampshire, we got a play-by-play account of what happened to her on her way home, on her way into her apartment, during the attack, and afterward.  We also got a description (written up and posted on the screen) of the attacker -- an African-American man.  There was also a reporter on the scene, standing in front of the woman's building, giving us the full report.  In the shooting story, however, all we got was a 30-second blurb from one of the anchors and some fuzzy video of a young man being put into the back of an ambulance.  Now, maybe this is just the cynic in me, but I find it interesting that we got a highly detailed story about an African-American man attacking a woman, and a very quick story about an African-American victim.  Oh, and why are they airing the story of a child being shot after the story of a former Mayor's job-hunting woes?

4:08 PM -- I turn off the television and open up news.google.com.  Granted, I'll probably see Paris Hilton headlines, but at least I can choose to ignore them and read the other headlines on the page.