Do you find broadcast news insulting to your intelligence?

I rarely watch broadcast news, however, I’m in Boston and, given recent events, it’s inescapable.

At lunch just now, our local NBC station was on and the news was covering the President and First Lady’s visit to Boston.

They showed footage of the hospitals they visited, speeches given, the motorcade, Air Force One, etc. This is fine.

The part that annoyed me was that peppered in with the factual information the anchors and field reporters kept embellishing with their opinions, their hopes and wishes, and their interpretations of what was happening. In fact, their editorial and personal comments far outweighed the facts.

What’s more, when they were showing patently obvious images, they would explain to the viewer what we were seeing in 3rd-grade-level detail.

Lastly, when nothing of note was happening (endless shots of Air Force One sitting on the Tarmac), they continue blabbering on about trivial stuff only vaguely related to the topic at hand.

Honestly, I feel like a moron watching this.

Cut back to regular programming when nothing interesting is happening. I can see the image on the screen. No need to explain. How about they just report the news? Not embellish. I don’t give a rat’s tuchas about some no-name field reporter’s opinion on the “spirit of the people of Boston”. I can form a fucking thought on my own thankyouverymuch.

I can’t remember, was broadcast news this insulting in the days of Cronkite?

If not, what the hell happened over the years? What led to this silliness?

I am now going back to reading my news from NPR or the AP.