Most days I peruse various sites to check out the news and relevant stories. I was shocked to come across this video with Representative Patrick Kennedy, screaming during a House of Representatives meeting into the microphone. He was upset that there were only two members from the press in the meeting and directly attributed their lack of interest to their work in the House. He suggested that the press only cover irrelevant topics and when big decisions are discussed, like money or war, no one is there to relay to the American people.

I understand that we obtain news through a controlled filter. The press control what we are exposed to, good or bad. There are already 78 million viewers who tune into CNN each month to receive hard news. The point is, Americans ARE tuning into various news outlets. What messages are they receiving? Is it consistent among all levels? How much do you trust your news source? We already use tools like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck to filter our news and social media profiles for us, it is hard even then to keep up with all the information. The press do a great job of covering relevant stories, yeah some are biased or modified, but what do you expect? This is the way our world works, and to get good press you need to focus on media relations. I do not blame the press for one second for not covering every Senate hearing. Do we really need to know everything?

Representative Kennedy’s outburst had a point, however it seems like he does not understand his audience. The American public should be the audience for all government related issues. As citizens of the United States, it is our right to vote and with that right we should stay tuned with all issues affecting us directly. The war, in theory, affects the entire country, but who is actually affected by it each day? Every issue our government debate is relative to each individual.

I will leave you with this food for thought: As a PR professional, do you think it is harder to pitch the “feel good” stories nowadays? I know we are not accustomed to pitching negative stores, as the saying goes “Not all press is good press”.

Photo Courtesy of: Business Insider