Daily Decrees

Beginning January 1, 2011, your all powerful yet benevolent despot will make one decree daily that will become instant and unquestionable law. Though it is said that absolute power corrupts absolutely, it is yet unkown whether absolute imagined power corrupts. Perhaps it merely corrupts the imagination. We'll find out as Marisa, the newly ordained Queen of the World, attempts to change the world for the better by making 365 unilateral decisions. Ultimately though, it doesn't really matter whether you agree with her decisions or not. So feel free to comment as long as you understand your comments are in vain. In all honesty though your queen is hopeful that you will consider the vast majority of her decrees to be the kind of decisions you wish your previous leaders had made years ago. The best part of being the supreme ruler of the world is that changes can be made easily. There are no agreements to be reached, no protocols to follow, and no bureaucratic red tape...and that is the whole point.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

January 25, 2011 – No News is Good News

Have you ever watched a single broadcast network all day long?  I have and trust me, it is PAINFUL!  Do you have any idea how many hours of news is shown on one network on a given day?  Let me just say that it is generally more than half of the entire day.  For an example, check out the lineup for one network in my area:

4:00-4:30am – Early News
4:30-5:00am – News at 4:30
5:00-6:00am – News at 5:00
6:00-7:00am – News at 6:00
7:00-11:00am – Morning show i.e. soft-core news
11:00-12:00pm – News at Midday
4:00-5:00pm – News at 4:00
5:00-6:00pm – News at 5:00
6:00-7:00pm – News at 6:00
7:00-7:30pm – Primetime news show
7:30-8:00pm – Hollywood news
11:00-11:30pm – News at 11:00

What’s worse is that there is not enough new news to fill all of these hours, meaning that if you watch all day you will see about five stories rehashed over and over along with some puff pieces about local animal shelters or the latest craze in mommy and me classes.  Stations seem so strapped for stories these days that they are often reduced to showing popular YouTube clips or scenes from the previous night’s primetime TV.  This is just sad.  Why have the internet and DVR when we can get it all rehashed at 5:00, 6:00, 7:00, 11:00, and so on and so on?  Besides, there are dedicated news channels out there are there not?  So then we don’t need half a day of five repeated news stories and internet clips on every single broadcast network.   

Broadcast networks are restricted to five hours of news per day (three hours in the morning, one hour at midday, and one hour in the early evening).

With only five hours of air time to fill instead of 12 or so I expect the quality of these news programs to increase drastically.  Focus on improving the awareness and intelligence of your audience.  Cover local, national, and world news.  Hey, maybe if your news programs get good enough I’ll let you have another hour.  Until then I will be hopeful that the holes in the schedules once filled with news will instead be filled with things that are worth watching.  That hope is probably in vain.

As always I remain your all powerful and benevolent Queen of the World,
Marisa
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