Signed-"Tired Of It" in Tulsa

I wrote this a couple of months back & let it sit in my drafts folder while I contemplated my wording. I emailed it off this morning after a couple of revisions. Hopefully I'm not the only one tired of seeing/hearing about dead kids in every news headline.



I start by saying I've been a huge fan of "XYZ News Channel" and your web site since 9/11. My husband and I became news hounds as much of America did then. We watched your whole evening line-up of shows and felt that we got to know the very personable hosts you have for each news piece or segment. Over the years, we've grown attached to and worried for A. Kelly, B. Leventhal and C. Harrigan out in the field. Each show has it's own flavor & we've appreciated what each host brings to the table. We consider "XYZ News" hard hitting and a high caliber of honest journalists.

I've also appreciated how you don't assume your viewers are ignorant and don't talk down to us. No matter how many people doubt it, we do believe you let us, the people at home, decide for ourselves once you present the facts. We've also been fans of the web site. I've had it as my homepage on my computer for years now. I check it several times a day & update my husband at work where there's "breaking news". I didn't really care for the last change of the appearance on the web page, but I remained a fan & kept with it even though I felt it was harder to navigate & follow.

However, I tell you this to let you know now I am finding a huge disappointment in your web site lately. The past 8 months or so I've noticed the main headlines at the top that greet me every morning are not pleasing. I realize the real world is full of displeasing people and things. It's not all unicorns & rainbows out there. But to have the story or headlines I see every morning to be about children dying in our country at the hands of their parents has me sickened and fed up.

Most recently when I logged on, I've seen someone has murdered their three month old baby & then thrown him and his carseat from their car on the highway. And there is this beautiful baby's picture large as life staring at me next to the headline. Or very recently the toddler beaten to death with the video game controller. While I am saddened by the deaths of celebrities, athletes and people who've touched our country's history that are reported, I can accept their deaths much easier. Maybe some of us being mothers we are affected more deeply by those horrific things. But I honestly believe, no one wants to hear any more about these cases so prominently and so very often in our daily news. My friends and I have talked about it, my husband has agreed. It's not necessary.

I really believe now after seeing so many, that the attention these heinous crimes receive, breeds more. I'm asking you to please not tell me at the top of your web page, so boldly displayed, about the mother who microwaved her baby. Don't show me pictures of what a sweet baby he was. I can't take any more. I no longer need to be told about the sex crimes and hate, touching the children of the world EVERY morning with my coffee or while I eat my dinner. Your headlines alone chill me sometimes. They can effect ones mood for the next hour or sicken you from taking that next bite of food. Just reading the words stays with me like pictures from an accident you wish you'd never seen.

I'm asking you to at least highlight these terrible stories in a certain color and relocate them down the page so when my eyes skim your headlines, I can choose not to read the words. With television, you can change the channel or mute it. With Internet though, it's different. Please do something where I don't have to know the horrific details to each & every crime to a child in this country. Otherwise, I'm afraid I'll be forced to find a new homepage for my browser.

~A Sincere Fan, But Tired Of It
Tulsa, Oklahoma