by Barry Henderson
The news business has changed a lot in my years of fooling with it. Some of it has gotten better; some of it has gotten worse. Some of it has gotten a lot worse.
A woman whips up on her kid in the Chicago Loop on videotape, and it stays in the national news on television and in newspapers and on the talk shows and the Internet for days on end. That is a local story gone awry, and its continued national coverage represents an awful waste of time and effort, except in that community. Elsewhere, it's wildly disproportionately played.
Some guy seems to reenact what looks mysteriously like the Place in the Sun plotline in California, and the same kind of media wilding occurs. It's demonstrative of an enormous loss of perspective. The distinction blurs between the import of war and peace issues or government programs or catastrophes that affect thousands upon thousands of people directly and those personal incidents that change a single, solitary life, even take a life.
There may be some argument that it was ever thus, but the sheer, exhaustive weight of the barrage emanating from across widening bands of media styles and outlets makes it worse. A lot worse.
At Metro Pulse, we don't want to feed that sort of media appetite.
Going into my second stint as editor here, I'm pretty confident that we won't. We won't be giving you boobs and blare and bombast. We won't start arguing our own case in every news item, either.
If you get what amounts to your only regular dose of national and international news from Bill O'Reilly or Imus in the Morning, you probably won't be interested in what we have to say. If you get your news analysis from watching guests and audiences react to a Phil Donahue or a Greta Van Susteren, you won't find the same brand of titillation here. If you think Rupert Murdoch is the worst thing that ever happened to news and commentary, however, or if you see Geraldo Rivera as a caricature, buffooning himself, we probably have something for you—something fun and informative and free of charge.
Here's what we expect to bring you:
 A focal point for community affairs in your own community.
A place for you to turn for explanations when issues that are important and that impact the community directly aren't being fully explained elsewhere.
A spot for your own opinions about Knoxville issues to be aired via the letters we publish.
A gossip column that tracks the talk of the town and lends events and people and their problems a brighter and sometimes lighter tone.
An events calendar that is as comprehensive as we can make it, so you can find the entertainment forms around Knoxville that strike your imagination and fit your schedule.
Columns of criticism and commentary on Knoxville's fine (and rude) arts, music, theater, food and food service, social mores, family life, government, and history.
A purposeful print vehicle for cutting-edge advertising by commercial interests who are creating and cultivating trends all around Knoxville.
A publication that is entertainment in itself. That's the hardest part, being smart and entertaining, but we're working on it, just as we've been working on it every day of every week for more than 12 years. We won't let up. Don't let us.
We may never be able to be everything you want, but keep us informed of how you think we're doing. We'll appreciate that and, believe it or not, we sometimes act in response to your criticisms and suggestions.
We do listen to you, just as we listen to each other.
It's always tempting for me to buck up against the ideas of one or the other of our staff members or freelancers and shout through a searing scowl: "Hey, I was doing this before you were born!" It's true enough, often enough, but it wouldn't be productive. In fact, it would usually be counter-productive.
Down to the youngest among us, they bring to our offices a wealth of new concepts and fresh feelings about the presentation of information and images.
Working with them is an experience I wish everyone could have. They make this job easy, in many ways, and brutally difficult on occasion. They also make it a lot of fun. We want to impart that sense of fun to you as we inform you. If we don't, either we aren't getting our jobs done, or you're out of reach....maybe out there with Imus or O'Reilly, or some screaming talk show host somewhere.
If we've lost you, we want you back.
April 3, 2003 * Vol. 13, No. 14
© 2003 Metro Pulse
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