CNN Headline News

What would you say really classifies something as "news"??
CNN has an interesting take on newsworthy events.
Each day I sit here at work with CNN Headlines on the 50" plasma next to my desk in the waiting room.

Today's headlines included:

• Rosie O'Donnell will be replacing Meredith Viera on "The View."
• Angelina Jolie announced she is only 8mo. pregnant & not due any moment as the media had hoped
• The National Anthem has been translated in song into Spanish for the "Latino population"--"When the president was asked at a Rose Garden question-and-answer session whether the anthem should be sung in Spanish, he replied: "I think the national anthem ought to be sung in English, and I think people who want to be a citizen of this country ought to learn English and they ought to learn to sing the national anthem in English." -cnn.com
• Kelly Pickler was voted off American Idol.

Is this really news? Believe it or not, it is somehow news. According to dictionary.com news is: "Information about recent events or happenings, especially as reported by newspapers, periodicals, radio, or television."

These are infact within the bounds of information about recent events, but are they events anybody really cares to know about? Why do we care?
If there was no fluff news would we be interested in what's really going on in the world? Would anyone actually know where to find this "real news"?? I don't believe I would know...

Today's media is overflowing and overlapping with the entertainment industry. The line continues to blur as Americans attempt to stay "in the know." If we are not proactive in our pursuit of current events we will always be surprised when we declare war on a nation or the gas prices sky rocket.
There must be a balance between enjoying the life we've been blessed to live and cultivating ourselves in a culture that spoon feeds us exactly what we are to know about the world.

How do you find that balance?