As usual, tonight I've been surfing and reading all kinds of news—including politics, business, science, technology, entertainment and music—from around the world. (And I tweeted the more interesting items in Twitter as I went along.)

I can't help it. I've always been a "news hound" with a great curiosity about the world around me. And I don't just want to know; I want to know who and why and how and where and...you get the picture. My husband says I'm "nosy." I say "once a reporter, always a reporter."

A journalist who has believed in and applied the journalistic ethics I learned in college to every article I've written or edited, I find myself wondering where so many so-called journalists went to college and how many classes they must have skipped to watch soap operas or Jerry Springer. (Don't even get me started on all the talk show hosts—aka actors/mouthpieces—who now masquerade as journalists on cable news networks.)

Maybe that's why I read and watch the news with a bit of a jaundiced eye. Yet even when I can't look away or stop reading, I'm sometimes a bit horrified at what I see when I look past the jaundice and finally focus in on the heavily slanted headlines or leads, biased content, lack of real substance, distorted facts, etc. In an effort to scoop each other or find yet another "angle," journalists now regularly create "news" and "stir the pot" in ways that would make Edward R. Murrow and so many other great journalists roll over in their graves.

There's also a constant barrage of news—as much as you can stand 24/7—that either seems to draw people in (as it does me) or send them scurrying for the cover of satellite radio, video games, books and hobbies to drown out the cacaphony. I know people who take the latter road, and some of them seem happier for it.

That's not my road; however, I fondly remember the simplicity of the big network news days when we knew less about the world around us but believed we could trust the reporting and news delivered by Walter Chronkite, Chet Huntley/David Brinkley/John Chancellor, Max Robinson, and their heirs apparent: Peter Brinkley, Tom Brokow and Dan Rather. (Of course, Dan eventually decided to try something "different" when he added that "Courage" comment at the end of the newscast. I remember thinking afterwards, what the hell? Apparently, CBS had the same reaction.)

Maybe I was genetically predisposed to love news. My dad never missed the evening news unless there was a good reason. After he retired, he became a huge fan of CNN and MSNBC, but not so much FOX News since he was a die-hard Democrat. He also loved the Weather Channel, watching it for hours during the day when they run those tornado chaser and tsunami specials (i.e., Storm Stories and Full Force Nature).

A couple of years before my dad died, I was home visiting the 'rents and really wanted to watch some show on "the big TV" in the living room. Dad had his usual death-grip on the remote. The  TV was tuned to the weather channel and Stephanie Abrams was talking about the weather in Kansas.

I said, "Dad, can I change the channel? There's a show that I really want to watch."

His fingers clenched even tighter around the remote. "I'm watching the weather."

"Local on the 8's was just on. I'll change the channel when it comes back on in 10 minutes. They're talking about the weather in Kansas right now," I said.

Totally seriously and without looking away from the screen, he replied: "I might know someone in Kansas."

At that point, I knew I'd be watching my show on "the little TV" in my old bedroom at the back of the house. At least I could lay on the bed while I watched. Too bad the screen was a little blurry and all the skintones had a green cast.

So here I am, reading, writing and contibuting to the cacophany via this blog, Twitter, MySpace and Facebook. Thanks to all the "feeds" on those sites plus the normal sources of news, I sometimes wonder if I will drown in the resulting news and data stream. I also sometimes wish I could transport back in time to when 30 minutes of nightly world news was plenty.