Neil Entwistle. Jennifer Wilbanks. Natalee Holloway. Laci Peterson. Terri Schiavo. Andrea Yates. And, yes, Dick Cheney with a hunting rifle.

I truly hope nobody recognizes all of those names. Unfortunately, for reasons I am not certain of, the national media in America appear determined to stuff people like these down our throats.

They are only a few examples of what I call the media distraction'the tendency of national TV news networks like CNN and Fox News to seize upon a relatively small, meaningless story and cover every single inch of it for days.

It truly is beyond my understanding why the news stations focus on these stories to such a huge degree. I try not to be cynical about it, but my best guess is that it's just easier to report.

Which would be easier: explaining Indo-Pakistani relations or explaining killing a pregnant woman? Which is closer to viewers? Which has a more immediate emotional effect on them?

With all of these things tipping the scale toward Laci Peterson and her media distraction brothers and sisters, a question like, 'Which story matters more'? goes right out the window, apparently.

As a friend of mine said about the Natalee Holloway story, 'It probably matters a lot to her family and her community.' Exactly! That's why it belongs on the local news!

Now I know some people believe television makes programs that people demand. The only reason MSNBC, CNN and Fox News exist in their present form, they say, is people demand 'news' that is high in flashy graphics, high in emotional impact and low in required thought.

I think this is ridiculous. Television doesn't fill a need, it creates its own need, in national news and in other things.

I realize some news stories have brought important issues to light for many Americans. Take, for example, Terri Schiavo's story, which made living wills and euthanasia important to many.

This does not detract from the fact that Schiavo's story, in itself, is not worthy of national news.

I'm not suggesting the only news I want to see is news that relates to me. The news should be something important to lots of people across the country'well, ideally, across the world, but I'll settle for 'country' from these people. Anything is better than the current policy, which seems to be 'county.'

Now I know I can find lots of boring, droning, painful news on other channels, like C-SPAN or just read BBC News online, but I'm not happy with that. It doesn't justify the fact that car chases, building fires and the odd kidnapping pass as news on the other networks.

What makes this worse is the incredible inconsistency of the national networks.

Take kidnapping: 800,000 missing children are reported every year in the United States, but only a few stories make national news'not remarkable or different from the others in any way, except maybe that they are more likely to feature a pretty white female. Kidnapping, or sex with one's students or any other issue, is briefly interesting and then ignored again.

I have a recommendation for the national news networks: report on news that affects the entire nation, or, as I said, the entire world. This would mean a little less useless fake news and a little more analysis, interviewing and reporting.