1a: a report of recent events

1b: previously unknown information

~Definition of “NEWS”/Merriam-Webster

The operative words are “report” and “unknown.”  In other words, if you want to speculate about what may or may not happen or if you want to share the same information (e.g. T**** lied today about …) over and over, feel free to do so.  Just do not call it news.  Consider this sample of headlines from today’s broadcast  media outlets.

CNN

• “Former presidents volunteer to get vaccine publicly to prove it’s safe.” NEWS because it is recent and previously unknown.
• “Our cities may never look the same again after the pandemic.” Speculative OPINION.

MSNBC

• “Multiple casualties after warehouse explosion near English city of Bristol.”  Very recent (reported 19 minutes ago).
• “Alleged pay-for-pardon scheme might be two low-level knuckleheads..but might not.”  Possibilities, not NEWS.
• “T**** rages over the election, ignoring a rampaging virus.”  Same old, same old.  Not recent or unknown.

Fox News

• “Pelosi, Schumer endorse $908B coronavirus relief deal as basis for negotiations.”  The issue may be old, but is NEWS because of the recent development.
• “Far-left is ruining games that are meant to be entertainment.”  Includes unsubstantiated claims attributed to “most Americans.”

Compare this with Walter Cronkite’s reporting of what was one of the most significant events in history, the first moon landing.  Below is the transcript of the CBS broadcast at the moment Eagle touched down on the lunar surface.

Eagle: Contact light. O.K, engine stopped…descent engine command override off…
Wally Schirra: We’re home!
Cronkite: Man on the moon!
Eagle: Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed!
Capcom: Roger, Tranquility. We copy you on the ground. You’ve got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We’re breathing again. Thanks a lot.
Tranquility: Thank you.
Cronkite: Oh, boy!

I could have drafted this entry any time during the past decade; so, why today?  Because yesterday several news outlets reported T**** may not attend Joe Biden’s swearing-in ceremony on January 20th, and is more likely to hold his own rally to announce he will run again in 2024.  One anchor imagined what that “split screen” might look like.  My question, “Why would any legitimate news service even consider airing a “made for TV event” next to a real moment in the history of our nation?  Or why is this even NEWS as defined by Merriam-Webster?  What is recent or unknown?”

• T**** cannot stand to have anyone else in the spotlight?  NOT NEWS.
• T**** lost the election in a “landslide” per his own definition of the term in 2016?  NOT NEWS.
• T**** is announcing his re-election candidacy within hours of an inauguration?  Definitely NOT NEWS, as he did the same thing in 2016.
• T**** is good at holding super-spreader events and people will die?  NOT NEWS.
• T**** does not believe in democracy or the Constitution?  NOT NEWS.
• T**** is a dick?  NOT NEWS.

The last time a split screen on inauguration day might be justified was January 20, 1981, when at noon EST, Ronald Reagan was sworn in as president and the Iranian hostages simultaneously began boarding a plane to bring them back to the United States.  Yet, even then, the first footage of the hostages was not broadcast until Reagan finished taking the oath of office.

Normally, I would say the role of the fourth estate is to report the news, not make it.  But if on January 20, 2021, they choose not to broadcast whatever T**** is doing at noon or cover this latest episode of his reality show for what it is, celebrity entertainment rather than a story of national import, THAT WOULD BE NEWS.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP