Blue View – The Media Stinks

This isn’t a rant about the large number of media sources that slant their news coverage towards either the right or the left, or who present quotes out of context, or cherry pick and distort the facts. Nope, this blog relates to my recent discovery that more than a few media people stink – literally.

Marcie’s last two blogs were devoted to the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) here in Las Vegas, to which we qualified for media passes. For the two days before the CES officially opened, the media was allowed to preview the newest and most innovative technologies, and attend seminars, presentations and press conferences given by companies that ranged from high-tech startups looking for venture capital to mega-corporations like Panasonic and BMW announcing their latest offerings. Your humble crew of Just a Little Further hobnobbed with correspondents from the major news networks and newspapers, and spoke with entrepreneurs who might be the next Steve Jobs or Bill Gates as well as businessmen and engineers from the big high-tech companies. Heady stuff!

For every New York Times writer or CBS correspondent, however, there were probably 100 bloggers, vloggers or stringers for media outlets I’ve never heard of. Apparently, many of these media people were on budgets so tight they couldn’t afford lodging that included a shower, because there were a lot of very odoriferous people in attendance. Rarely did we attend a presentation or seminar without being in close proximity to someone with a foul smell. We were in one seminar when a woman sat down next to me who had a stench so bad, my eyes began watering. I was worried that her smell might cling to my clothing, and that I’d be offending people for the rest of the day. I began wearing my mask – not so much for Covid as to try to block some of the noxious odors wafting in the air.

I’ve never spent much time with other media people. My image of news writers was what we see in the movies… the slightly disheveled, obsessive investigative reporter, working late into the night, trying to meet the publishing deadline with his/her story exposing a crooked councilman or bent cop. Perhaps in real life, those reporters are not only slightly disheveled, but also smelly. Maybe, in their obsessiveness, they forget about personal hygiene. I’ve certainly known more than a few engineers and programmers who needed a little guidance in this area.

I should stop grousing on the subject lest you think that smelly people was my big takeaway regarding the CES. We actually did discover a lot of marvelous new devices. There were a host of things I wanted to see - drones, 3D printers, marine and medical related devices were at the top of the list, but we couldn’t walk 20 feet without encountering something interesting. Next week I’ll have a list of my favorite and least favorite new products at the show.

Stay tuned...