Infotainment makes us less informed

If you think TV news programs keep you informed of the latest developments in the world, or even make you smarter, you could be making a huge mistake.

That's how I feel these days watching network news in the United States. The UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, which is vital to the future of humans and the planet, gets very little coverage. Instead, my senses are constantly being bombarded by the latest detail on the car crash of the world's top golfer, Tiger Woods, and his alleged affairs with other women; the efforts to extradite Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski to the United States for having unlawful sex with a 13-year-old 31 years ago; the unfolding drama of American college student Amanda Knox, who has been sentenced to 26 years in Italy for murdering her British roommate; and the couple who gatecrashed President Obama's first state dinner.

The networks are clearly trying to convince viewers that these are what they desperately need to know every day before going to work or when they get back from work. They are at least as important, if not more important, than major issues people face in the US, such as the new war strategy in Afghanistan spelt out by Obama just last Tuesday, the concern over serious unemployment and quality of education Obama expressed in a town hall meeting in Allentown, Pennsylvania, last Friday, or the healthcare plan on which Obama tried to reassure his fellow Democrats in Congress this past Sunday. Other pressing world issues, such as hunger and disease in poor countries, simply find no mention.