Giving U.S. TV news a kick in the teeth

Re “Bombs away on television news,” Opinion, Sept. 12

The “perky” anchors delivering hyper-optimistic American news have been an object of ridicule and parody ever since the 1987 movie “Robocop.” I myself have recently found it necessary to turn to two noncommercial and exquisitely non-perky news sources on the Web: Amy Goodman’s “Democracy Now” and (because of my relatively exotic profession) the Dutch evening news. And the anchors on the Dutch NOS Journaal, not beholden to American corporations, often deliver more penetrating reports on American events and much wider coverage of world news than is ever seen on American television.

So perhaps the very best future that Americans could create for American news broadcasting would be to simply ignore it. If one still wants to look at females with glistening white teeth, one can always turn to toothpaste ads.

ROBERT KIRSNER

Los Angeles