The recent death of journalist Tim Russert has gotten me thinking about the role that news plays in my life. My brother and I talked about Russert's death as if we had lost a family member. I'm a news junkie, and watch all the main broadcasts each night, although I don't have cable to follow CNN.

News used to be brought to people by travelers and passed on by town criers. Much of this was also gossip. Now it may be called infotainment, and scandals dominate what is often news. This is not a recent development, as over 100 years ago Joseph Pulitzer (ironically his name is what inspired the Pulitzer prize which is awarded each year for excellence in journalism and other media)  owned a newspaper which was accused of "yellow" journalism because it focussed on scandals and gossip.

We need to know and the "facts" will always be colored by the reporter's bias and financial incentives. Hopefully the truth will come out one way or another.

Sunday Papers
Joe Jackson

Mother doesn't go out any more
Just sits at home and rolls her spastic eyes
But every weekend through the door
Come words of wisdom from the world outside

If you want to know about the bishop and the actress
If you want to know how to be a star
If you want to know about the stains on the mattress
You can read it in the sunday papers, sunday papers

Mother's wheelchair stays out in the hall
Why should she go out when the tv's on
Whatever moves beyond these walls
She'll know the facts when sunday comes along

If you want to know about the man gone bonkers
If you want to know how to play guitar
If you want to know about the other suckers
You can read it in the sunday papers, read it in the sunday papers

Sunday papers don't ask no questions
Sunday papers don't get no lies
Sunday papers don't raise objection
Sunday papers don't got no eyes

Brother's heading that way now I guess
He just read something made his face turn blue
Well I got nothing against the press
They wouldn't print it if it wasn't true

If you want to know about the gay politician
If you want to know how to drive your car
If you want to know about the new sex position
You can read it in the sunday papers, read it in the sunday papers

U2
Zoo Station


I'm ready
I'm ready for the laughing gas
I'm ready
I'm ready for what's next
I'm ready to duck
I'm ready to dive
I'm ready to say
I'm glad to be alive
I'm ready
I'm ready for the push

In the cool of the night
In the warmth of the breeze
I'll be crawling around
On my hands and knees

She's Just down the line...Zoo Station
Got to make it on time...Zoo Station

I'm ready
I'm ready for the gridlock
I'm ready
To take it to the street
I'm ready for the shuffle
Ready for the deal
Ready to let go of the steering wheel
I'm ready
Ready for the crush

She's just down the line... Zoo Station
Got to make it on time... Zoo Station

Alright, alright, alright, alright, alright
It's alright... it's alright... it's alright... It's alright

Hey baby... hey baby... hey baby... hey baby...
It's alright, it's alright

(Alright, you can turn it up)

Time is a train
Makes the future the past
Leaves you standing in the station
Your face pressed up against the glass

I'm just down the line from your love... Zoo Station
You know I'm under the sign... Zoo Station
I've got to make it on time
Make it on time... Zoo Station
I'm gonna be there... Zoo Station
Tracing the line... Zoo Station
That's alright... Zoo Station
Just two stops down the line... Zoo Station
Just a stop down the line...



Thomas Dolby
Airwaves

Strange how the scale forms
In tiny patterns
On my atenna
and The Five O'Clock Show, hello hello ...
Brooklyn is crawling with famous people
I turn my vehicle beneath the river, west from south
Through the airwaves-
people never read the airwaves
Do we only feed the airwaves
I really should have seen through the airwaves
Electric fences line our new freeway
Here in the half-light, the motorhomes leave
Knee-deep in water under a pylon
How slow my heartbeat
How thin the air I'm breathing in
Through the airwaves -
People never read the airwaves
do we only feed the airwaves
Or stamp them out at street level ?
Airwaves - the dampness of the wind
The airwaves - the tension of the skin
The airwaves
Be in my broadcast when this is over
Give me your shoulder, I need a place
To wait for morning
No it was nothing - some car backfiring -
Please don't ask questions
I itch all over
Let me sleep
Through the airwaves -
People never read the airwaves
Do we only feed the airwaves
Or stamp them out at street level ?
Airwaves - the dampness of the wind
The airwaves - the tension of the skin
The airwaves I really should have seen through ..