I Want My MSNBC

An astronaut armed with mace and one dead buxom blonde have hogged the airwaves.

No, they weren't advertising for a bad B list film. These were the two stories that occupied hours of airtime on MSNBC, CNN and the fair and balanced FOX news network all last week.

I guess this boils my brain because it has become almost impossible to get real news without having to suffer through 15 minute celebrity segements. If it isn't TomKat or Brangelina its some celebrity bimbo's wardrobe malfunction.

Where is the news?

I remember a time when 6pm was the official time for news. Every major network designated at least an hour to current events.

Jim Vance actually talked about the Gulf War, not what Britney wore.

I'm not sure if the media is catering to what the public really wants or if the media is just trying to make most of us believe celebrity smut and bizarre behavior is what we should be watching.

We are at war. Even though 24 hour news stations have plenty of time to inform us, so much airtime is wasted on frivilous Hollywood happenings and scandalous stories about suburbanites.

The death of Anna Nicole Smith was tragic and worth mentioning. However, hours of her semi-disturbing sex pot photos accompanied by speculative commentary was not news. It was gossip. The only good thing about the Anna exposure, was that it finally knocked that crazed astronaut's story off the media's most talked about list.

I don't mind a little mindless entertainment, but we can please separate it from the informative stuff we used to call news? The E network was established as an alternative to MSNBC not direct competition with news channels.