The BIG News

The TV station I worked for in South Dakota called it's evening newscast, "The BIG News;" I thought about this week as all the lists came out discussing which stories got the most attention or deserved it this year.

(We pause for a couple moments, as the old ('get off my lawn') guy adds his comments.)

I remember when we had time to digest the news. You know, hear a story on the radio, catch a story on the evening news, and read about it the paper the following morning.

This was the way we did it "back in the day," or as I like to call it, the Nineteen Nineties!  We read feature stories in the paper or saw them on TV, but we didn't confuse them with the BIG NEWS. There weren't any hot takes - immediate opinions before all facts are known - as we dug into the important issue bits at a time.

In a hot-take world where stories break on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, the stories move so fast, all that's left is a blur of color in our timeline.

I checked the top 10 list according to the Associated Press and compared to the Top 10 most viewed stories on Facebook.  If you compare the two, you might be surprised to see half the Facebook list dealt with elections.

The U.S. election has implications which will play out, one way - the other - or perhaps both ways, over the next four to eight years.  It seems to ratify recent election results in other parts of the world.

Terror attacks, here and abroad, are sad and tragic reminders of a broken world.

Race relations deserve the news coverage.   We need to listen to each other.  It's important to get along.  It's important to follow the laws of this country and for them to be administered fairly for everyone.  It's a big issue and one which can't be solved in 140 characters.

A wise friend recently pointed out how people don't look back on their journey and talk about their fear during the journey once its over.  We express fear and concern for the unknown.  That's a reason many fear 2017.

I suspect we'll get through it, one day and one story at a time.

If you want to check out the top news of 2016, click here:

AP News top 10

Top 10 stories on Facebook