Damn News

[ufcrusher]

I dont know about the rest of you, but I am getting really annoyed at how badly my local news is being skewed. I dont know whether it is just misinformation on their part or more disturbingly that they are trying to give out the wrong information.

Here are two recent examples:

There is a story of a man catching a mystery fish in a local waterway. They show a picture of a fish, which is clearly a pirahana, although I wasnt sure whether it was a Pacu or a Black Piranaha. Well, two nights later, they revist the picture, with the announcement that the fish had been identified. They continued that it was "definitely NOT a pirahana, but a Pacu."

I hate to tell them, but a Pacu is a vegetarian piranaha! I can understand that maybe, maybe, they did so not to unduly frighten the public, but in light of their next screw up, I dont think so.

They have been reporting about the kid who got attacked by a bull shark in Pensacola. The news has been reporting on this EVERY day since the attack occurred. They have been telling everyone that it was an unprovoked attack in knee deep water. What they havent told anyone is that the attack took place at 9pm in murky waters. The kid was breaking every single safety rule for avoiding attacks int he ocean. So rather than tell people all of the mitigating factors which would allay peoples fear, they sensationalize the attack.

Last time I checked, San Diego is a coastal town which means that they could have shark attacks here. Why is it that they down play a damn vegetarian piranaha as not to make the public fears, but blow out of proportion a shark attack which occurred when the idiot kid went into the water when he shouldnt have.

Everyone knows that:
A) you dont go swimming at dusk or dawn, as this is the feeding time of sharks
b) you dont go swimming in murky waters, as there is a higher incidence of attacks
c) dont go swimming near outlets or mouths of rivers, more turbulence, etc.
d) dont go swimming if the water is heavy with bait fish.

This kid went swimming in the gulf at dusk (night), the water was murky, and as it was the gulf, it generally has a lot of bait fish in it.

Why didnt the freaking news tell anyone all of the alternative factors?!?

This just pisses me off. If we are supposed to believe the news they have to report the truth. But why should we believe the news? They misinform everyone about what goes on in Israel. They misinform everyone about everything else. Damn them

[stupidzbu]

i feel you on this one....

i've always been an advocate that the local news is full of excentrisism and usually blatant LIES...
they try to overdramatize the news... using catchy words... and appropariate background music.. usually while giving misinformation about something.. to grasp the average idiotic viewer who doesn't know any better...

just so their rating go up.. so they profit more from advertisements and the sale of commercial slots...

BY FAR Rupert Murdock is the head of this group.. i mean.. this guy is such a sleaze ball.. he owns FOX.. and GOD DAMN! any time SOMETHING goes goodo for another network.. he seems to think 'well why don't we throw as much shit to the wall and see what sticks..!'

don't believe me?

What happened when WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONARE hit big? did Fox not have a sping-off?
What about survivor? what happened after that went into it's 3rd season and uge ratings? First fox tried their own 'reality' shows... NOW they are producing as many stupid 'reality' shows... either to CHANGE the defiition of a reality show... OR... to discredit them and sicken people to such an extent... that they wouldn't want to even LOOK at another reality show... sorta like killing the ocmpetition's viewers idea....

the only reason i like Fox.. is cause of Family Guy (WOO HOO new summer season !) .. simpsons.. futurama... Malcolm in the middle...3rd rock, and drew carrey.... everythign else is CRAP and DOUBLE-CRAP...

now lets shift to the LA TIMES! MY neighbor and some of my friends were in a fight on May 31, 1999 .. gang related.. my neighbor supposedly stabbed this guy with his gang friends 13 times... in the front with a knife.. and in the back with a screwdriver .. th ekid dies...

how did the story go? Well.. this is a 'private' party.. for armenians... right.. this girl at a high school was having a b-day party.. and she invited the usual crowd... here comes a group of 3 persians.. who were pb]NOT[/b] invited.. they barge into the house.. and basically try to be LA=style HARD ASSES... two of them... start shit.. pretty much throw a huge bowl of M&Ms to the floor.. and say 'WASSUP' to start a fight with people....
my neighbor was in a gang.. and starts caliming the gang.. these people say 'FUCK YOU GANG'.... and so started the fight..
their third friend... wanted to stop all teh bullshit.. cause he saw nothing good coming out of it.. sadly he is the one that died....

so... some of my good friends who were not involved in the murder or gangsters.. get arrested.. it took 3 months to get them off.. why? well.. cops really don';t give a fuck.. they will capture as many people as they can.. and figure they don;t have money to represent themselves. so they will rot away.. and who cares.. antoher punk off the streets.. right?

well.. my friends happen to have a shitload of money.. higher shug knights lawyer... robert shapiro (stinky breath!).. and i don't know who else... get them aquitted in 3 months! hehehe

so... the LA times reports on the front cover... that my gangster neighbor and his gangster friends BARGED into the party uninvited.... and these persian people COURAGEOUSLY stood up to them... and some time later.. the 'gangsters' returned.. and killed one of them....

2 weeks later.. once the truth came out in court... what did the LA TIMES do? well.. they corrected their story...
but WHERE did they print it! ANYWHERE but the front page! it was a small paragraph somewhere in the middle of the damn newspaper!

why report FALSELY then not even report the TRUTH on the front page? because drama SELLS.. and they could care less about the TRUTH... they only see GREEN and $$

live with it.. there *IS* something you can do about it.. but you would probably think it too much work and give up.. cause you probably really don't care that much anyhow.....

[fakesurfers]

Armenians and Persians dont get along?

[IntegraTypeR]

i take everything w/a grain of salt nowadays knowing that it might not be reported correctly. everyone on tv these days just wants to make money and the way they do that is to put something on that will grab your attention.

i do admit that the local news, however, is pretty bad to misrepresent the news as poorly as they hv

[mojo]

i heard a news today, oh boy,
four thousand holes in blackburn lancashire,
and though the holes were rather small,
they had to count them all,
now they know how many holes it takes to fill the albert hall,
i'd love to turn you on

(excerpt from a day in the life, mccartney/lennon)

[Grimm]

There isn't any "News" any more, just "News Entertainment". It's kind of like the relation between sports and "Sports Entertainment" (read pro wrestling). It's just a simulation, choreographed to draw attention and ratings. the "News" is not intended to inform, but to entertain. So long as the viewers are entertained, who cares what is really happening. It's not their job to tell people what is really happneing in the world.
If you want to find out what is going on in the world you will have to go out yourselves and look. You won't like what you see.

[froggystyle]

Up here in Santa Barbara, our news is so sesationalized that i cant even take it seriously if i tried...I mean they act so dramatic and report such blatanly wrong informationt that i cant even bear to watch it any more.

[ufcrusher]

Dark Fury - I actually went through the Sun Sentinel to find all the information. Here is the article.


Doctors reattach boy's arm after N. Florida shark attack

By Bill Kaczor
The Associated Press
Posted July 8 2001


PENSACOLA · An 8-year-old boy was in critical condition Saturday after a team of surgeons worked through the night reattaching the arm he lost in a shark attack.

Three surgeons and a large surgical support team worked 12 hours in shifts to reattach the right arm, which was bitten off by what authorities think was a bull shark, a species known to be aggressive.

The boy was attacked about 9:30 p.m. Friday as he swam at Gulf Islands National Seashore near Fort Pickens in the Florida Panhandle.

The boy's uncle wrestled the 7-foot shark to shore, where a ranger shot it. Medical personnel then retrieved the arm, according to chief ranger J.R. Tomasovic.

"A ranger shot it in the head three times, which was enough to get the shark to loosen his jaws," said ranger John Bandurski.

Immediately after the attack, relatives and emergency crews struggled to revive the boy.The boy was airlifted to the hospital, while his arm was taken by ambulance.

"It's our belief that [this] tragic incident has to do with visibility," Tomasovic said. "Sharks have very poor vision. When it's dark outside or the water is murky, if they see something splashing about they can't identify, they may strike."

The International Shark Attack File lists 79 confirmed shark attacks, 10 of them fatal, worldwide last year. Thirty-four of those attacks took place in Florida.

Copyright © 2001, South Florida Sun-Sentinel


As for sharks coming into shallow water, it happens all the time. I can vividly remember getting pulled out of the water multiple times as a kid, because a large school of Sand Tigers were coming in between the sand bar and the shore. Other times it was just a "big fish" alert. Couple of times it was just a cobia, once a nice tarpon, the rest of the time it was sharks.

Many attacks happen in knee deep water and I have actually seen video footage of a galapagos shark taking a galapagos fur seal from the beach. It came in on a wave, grounded itself for just a second, and wiggled its way out on the next wave. Its actually a beautiful sight, if you can like that stuff.

Additionally, if you have ever gone flats fishing, there are always lots and lots of sharks in the shallows. I have seen 12 foot nurses in 3 feet of water, 6 foot bonnet heads, a huge thresher, lemons, etc. They all just come on in to feed. Its easier to get the prey when they dont have to work as hard.

Plus, if you ever see the aerial photos they take during the shark flights, which happen all the time on the atlantic side, you will see that generally there are sharks within 100 yards of the swimmers at all times. It just depends on whether it looks like it is just swimming up the coast or actually actively looking for food. I guess most people dont even want to think about this fact, but it is true. There are always sharks around you, but most of the time they are relatively harmless.

And in case anyone else is wondering, there actually have been numerous shark attacks occuring in FRESH WATER. Bulls for instance are known to swim far up river. I cant remember the details this minute, but there was a series of very famous deaths that occurred in New Jersey, I believe, but way up river. I even think that Jaws was based partly on those attacks.

[stupidzbu]

Originally posted by fakesurfers
Armenians and Persians dont get along?

they do.....

except gangster armenians.. and gangster persians....

or.....

those who think they are hard asses....

[Burzhui]

Originally posted by DarkFury

From what I have heard, sharks generally don't even like to swim in such shallow water.


False, Most attcks on humans occur within 3-5 feet of water

Originally posted by ufcrusher


And in case anyone else is wondering, there actually have been numerous shark attacks occuring in FRESH WATER. Bulls for instance are known to swim far up river. I cant remember the details this minute, but there was a series of very famous deaths that occurred in New Jersey, I believe, but way up river. I even think that Jaws was based partly on those attacks.


I remember watching faces of death and this kid got attacked by a bullshark in a river

[IntegraTypeR]

http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/07/12/shark.attack/index.html

The same story is here ... makes you lose respect for the news since they don't report it w/all the facts. They should have at least said that the boy was swimming late at night.

[mojo]

i say leave the sharks alone. they are just chillen and doin what they do. the day that a shark comes up and attacks in a crowded movie theater...then you call out the dogs

[OC]

My local news stations have gotten so bad that I don't even bother watching news anymore. I get most of my news from the net, and I occasionally tune into CNN for a few minutes if there's a big international story breaking. This way, I can avoid the sensationalism (most of it anyway) and skim the story so that all I come away with is "kid gets arm bit off by shark" without the hype.

I've been sick of the way that pretty much everything is aimed at the typical sheep public, with no attention being paid to people that have a brain. News programs, daytime TV (gawd save me!), TV and radio commercials - all cater to the lowest common denominator. Rather than stay pissed about it, I just eliminate those things from my life, for the most part. They're not aiming at me anyway, so why should I waste my time on them?

-OC