Annoying Trend in Popular Entertainment

I could probably put this better if I wanted to take more time, but here goes:

Recently my intake of popular entertainment has been on the increase. This has been due to 1) small children in the house who force me to watch kids' movies and 2) an extremely long-lasting cold that drives me to brainless novels. (I don't do theology when I'm too tired/sicky. Life has its limitations.) To the producers of these forms of entertainment, I have a request: please put a moratorium on the use of journalists, reporters, and news media exposition in your stories.

It's gotten way overdone. I'm scratching my head trying to figure out the last time I read or watched something where none of the following were present:

1. A journalist or reporter is a main or significant minor character
2. Television or print reporting is used for significant plot exposition (forgetting the maxim of "show us, don't tell us")
3. A television or print news story deus ex machina (Kids' shows are particularly guilty of this.)
   

Seriously, never mind that journalists are up there with lawyers and slick TV preachers as the world's most annoying professions, this has gotten old old OLD. Its triteness is beyond measure. I know #1 is useful because it opens up a lot of possible story lines, but #2 and #3 are simple laziness. Examples of this sort of thing are endless:

• Preston & Child thriller novels: Bill Smithback (journalist, major minor character)
• Spiderman movies: Peter Parker (duh), plus the ridiculous play-by-play commentary of the final fight scene in III
• Superman movies: see above
• EVERY SINGLE LIVE ACTION KIDS' MOVIE IN THE LAST 15 YEARS: "Oh wow! We're such extraordinary kids, we're going to have a 20 second spot at the end of tonight's local newscast!" **barfs** (Ever notice how all these movies seem to have the same soundtrack as well?)
  
• The lamentable Left Behind series, which I'm reading vicariously over here (Special challenge for prospective rapture fiction writers: also drop the equally trite airplane scenario.)
• Even my camp favorite, Slap Her, She's French, uses a journalism theme to move the plot along .

On and on I could go with more examples. It should stop, but I'm under no illusions that my whining here will accomplish anything; originality is too much to ask for in an age of endless remakes. I do pledge, however, if I ever try my hand at fiction (unlikely), I will not include a single reference to the field of journalism. Either that or a very vicious parody might be in order... **Sean's mind goes off in devious directions.**