This is a little segment I like to call “Hey That’s Not News.” Every morning I watch a national morning news show–The Today Show–as I ramp up for the day.  And every morning I am treated to “news” stories that are just not news.

These are stories that belong on tabloid TV shows like Inside Edition or paparazzi gossip shows like TMZ. Yet every morning they take up a good chunk of a program on which the people call themselves journalists.

Hey That’s Not News….

Photos show Woods at sex-rehab clinic

After weeks out of the spotlight, cameras have caught up with Tiger Woods in Hattiesburg, Miss., at the Gentle Path clinic, a rehabilitation facility known for treating sex addicts. NBC’s Ron Mott reports.

Yes folks they have a reporter on the scene to report on this breaking news. And the pictures…well it appears they actually pulled them from, rather appropriately, the worlds number one tabloid The Enquirer.

Way to go Today Show. Way to show your journalistic integrity.

Are newspapers on the way out for good?

I don’t know about you but I find it incredibly sad to see the passing of the great American tradition of the newspaper. Living in a city that lost one of its major newspapers long before the economy starting eating newspapers alive I already had that feeling of regret and nostalgia. (Not to mention the distinct feeling that news had suddenly become less diverse and distinctively one sided.) But watching other major newspapers tumble and others on the brink in today’s struggling economy is almost heartbreaking.

I do have to step back and separate this from the current economic crisis and realize that the demise of the print newspaper may be inevitable. After all as we become an increasingly digitized society information that is changing by the moment does indeed lend itself to the medium. But there is still an in depth reporting and insight, a richness, to the printed newspaper that I don’t believe you will ever get online. Not to mention the importance of locally relevant stories.

I believe newspapers are worth saving and hope they never leave us entirely. February 2nd is National Buy a Newspaper Day and I for one will be purchasing my local newspaper. Will you please join me?