'Big' Press

Sometimes the press uses silly terms to describe things going on in the news. You've probably heard the term,'If it bleeds, it leads.' That means that murders, shootings or stabbings will find their way to the frontpage or be the first thing you hear about on the news.

The press also uses the same old cliches to describe these stories. For example, when there is a shooting,you may hear a reporter say that 'shots rang out.' After a devastating disaster, families will try to 'pickup the pieces of their shattered lives.' The neighbors are also always going to be 'shocked.' You could almost make a drinking game out of watching the news!

Another example of silly cliches the press uses is their description of the tobacco and oil companies.

Both are described as nothing more than 'big.'

When gas prices rose to more than three dollars a gallon and oil companies were reporting 'record profits' (remember, profit = bad & greedy), the press was quick to demonize them as a whole, calling them 'big.' You probably heard this line a few times: 'Another record for big oil, as profits soared...'

(What you didn't hear is that government's taxes on a gallon of gasoline are greater than the oil companies'profit off the same gallon! But nowhere did you hear about 'big government.')

It's become so ridiculous that sometimes reporters will talk about 'big oil' like it's a living, breathing, being!

'It depends on big oil.'
'What will big oil do?'

R.J. Reynolds & Philip Morris are tobacco companies that get the label in the news as 'big tobacco.'

These terms are absolutely ridiculous. If the press is going to put the label on the oil and tobacco companies,why not put it on others?

Water would be a perfect example. At Costco, you can purchase 35 bottles of water for less than five dollars. The price per unit is about 13 cents. If you were to sell those bottles of water for a dollar each, the mark-up is more than 750%!

Should the press demonize people who sell bottled water as 'big water?' Trying to use that term would get a journalist laughed out of the newsroom.

So should using 'big tobacco' and 'big oil.'