"She had problems with drinking milk"*

I've been known to go on the occasional rant, and it's been awhile since I've gone on one (well at least on this blog anyway). That means I feel the need (no, not "the need, the need for speed"—five stars to the first person to name that movie!) to vent a little. Here goes:

I don't watch my local news stations very often, but the few times I have caught their riveting stories of late, I've noticed their stellar use of visual aids. One news reporter was standing in front of a court house talking about a local case. To sum up the report, he said the court papers had been filed and held up a stack of white papers. Oh, so that's what court papers look like. My life is now complete since I've seen a shot of those papers.

And just yesterday, I watched a news report about how children aren't getting enough vitamin D. Again when the reporter (a different one from the one mentioned above) was summing up his report, he noted that drinking milk is one way to increase vitamin D and held up a half-gallon of milk. Finally, someone has shown me what milk looks like. I never would have known otherwise.

Apparently I missed the memo that said any old visual, no matter how pointless, should be used. I always thought—and I was a CLA (kind of like a TA, but with fewer responsibilities) for a introductory level communications class in college—that visual aids should somehow enhance the presentation. But that's just me...I guess those TV guys think otherwise!

*Kings of Leon