Last night, the comrades at the House of jLo were idly watching some very trashy television (if you read closely, you’ll be able to tell exactly which show I’m referring to). It was a most entertaining experience, prompting exchanges such as the following:

jLo: “Whoa, sweetie! Step AWAY from the solarium. You’re done.”
Comrade TJ: “She looks like an Oompa-Loompa. Only more orange.”

(later)

jLo: “Hang on. Did he just take off his pants?”
Comrade TJ (peeking through her fingers): “I can’t watch. I can’t work out what else there is for her to take off and still have this show remain on air. I can’t believe they’re stripping on stage.”
jLo: “And now they’re simulating sex. Are there children watching?”

During a much-needed ad break respite, we saw a curious thing (and this is actually the point of this post, in case you were wondering). An advertisement for the Nightly News, for the following evening.

It was a tearjerking human interest story, about some orphaned little boys and a community coming together to help. I watched the promo assuming it would be a Today Tonight story (you know, hard-hitting current affairs etc). I was mistaken. This heartwarming feature will be aired on the Nightly News.

Does anyone else find this absurd? How on earth can you advertise the news a day early? Surely by its very definition the ‘news’ program is dedicated to the events of the day – and therefore, by its nature, not something you can advertise in advance. What if there was a spectacularly large news story today, one of those kind that eat up entire bulletins? What would happen to the little boys and the community with the heart of gold then?

Perhaps I’m over-reacting. Perhaps this has been going on forever and I’ve just not noticed before? Certainly I’m apparently expecting too much of the ‘news’ department at that particular network. It just seems to me that the moment you drop even the pretence of currency in news reporting you’ve abandoned what shred of credibility you may have had left.

Or perhaps I was just blinded by the fake tan and semi-nudity.