We hear a lot about the news media.  Nowadays, if a news outlet reports something that we don't like or agree with, many folks label it "fake" and then go about their day.

It seems that the formula that television, newspapers, and even some radio formats use is "if it bleeds, it leads". Most of the news that we receive today is negative. Think about it, here in Montana if you tune into a newscast, usually the first thing you're going to hear about is a shooting or a robbery, or some sort of negative situation.

Of course, now with the invention of social media and "streaming" it seems that not only do we focus on the negative, but we're also focused on going viral.

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So what's my point in all of this?  Well, I'm glad you asked.

Recently a man visiting Yellowstone National Park decided to take it upon himself to help out a baby bison. The calf was struggling near a river and had been separated from its mother and heard, the man fearing the baby would die decided to intervene and help the calf out which resulted in the baby bison being rejected from its mother and being put down.

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This ended up being a huge story not only here in Montana, but across the country, and media outlets all over the state and nation plastered this guy's face across television and computer screens all in hopes that someone would know who he was and turn him in.

Here's my issue with the situation.

The news media will go out of their way for something like that, playing it over and over for days, yet when someone goes missing in Montana, it often receives very little coverage. Take the missing indigenous people for example.  According to Montana Public Radio, almost 50 indigenous people are missing in Montana right now, with 20 having been missing for over a year.

Tero Vesalainen
Tero Vesalainen
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The report goes on to state that 22 of those missing are under the age of 18 and two of them are under the age of 5. I didn't know that, did you? Yet, for several days in a row, I saw some guy on my screen with a baby bison and a number to call if I knew who he was.

I can't be the only person that thinks this is messed up. The news media has to do better when we have actual people missing, yet it's hardly reported on. We as consumers of media have to demand more from news outlets. Missing indigenous people is a big problem in the state and there are several different organizations out there fighting every day to find these folks, so maybe focus on them a little more.

Oh, and to all the news media outlets out there, it certainly wouldn't hurt to throw in some more positive news stories as well.

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