Who decides what's news?
I hit the 'internets' yesterday, looking for material for the weekly roundup, and I have to say it was a bit depressing.
Although there are dozens of stories about how Sen Kerry and John McCain are no longer BFF, there's been almost nothing about McCain not showing up for work since April, and little on the rest of McCain's Very Bad Week. There was a piece or two about Sen. Kerry's e-prescription bill which is estimated to save thousands of lives and billions of dollars every year, but you really have to search to find news of it. Who cares about saving lives when the Johns are on the outs, and Brangelina had twins? (Congrats to them, btw.)
And nothing on the Kerry legislation that passed with the housing bill.
You can easily find articles noting that Senator Kerry has a challenger for his Senate seat, but where's the story about the so-called progressive opponent trolling for votes on anti-Obama websites? That sounds newsworthy to me.
I guess, as Sen. Kerry noted in his interview with AAR's Mark Green, it's up to us to help get the truth out.
There was a good blog piece about the SFRC hearing, one about securing the vote for our veterans, and one about money to help small businesses.
But I could find nothing -- and I mean that seriously -- nothing on the Mortgage Revenue Bond Provision, the Service Members Civil Relief Act, the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund or the Community Development Block Grant, all of which passed with the housing bill, and all designed to help Americans keep their homes during these very difficult economic times. Believe me, I looked, and I found nada. You'd think a lot of people would care about that. Maybe I should just stop whining. According to McCain's chief economic adviser, the problems with the economy are all in my head anyway.
Several local media outlets noted that the Senator was in Lowell and Lawrence last week, but didn't provide a whole lot of detail. We did get a fabulous story from the Lowell Sun about the Senator's stop in Lowell to survey the Hamilton Canal district, so thanks to the Sun for that.
It would be nice, though, to hear at least as much about the Senator's provisions in housing bill as we did about JK and McCain's bruised friendship.
Enjoy the news.
