Larry King has been tossing softballs since the 1980s. Now we have Glenn Beck, who screams at us about whatever, and Lou Dobbs, who takes an hour a night to scream about illegal immigration. Then Nancy Grace, who screams again about whatever little white girl is missing, and then, if you can survive all that, you have Tits and Company in the morning.
Tits seems to find everything funny and has an amusing aside. At least she wears tight sweaters which show off her boobs.
The network hasn’t been the same since Ted Turner sold out to Time Warner. Ted has publicly lamented the state of CNN and Headline News on several occasions.
My problem is that when I want news I can’t get it anywhere. I can’t read that little ticker at the bottom of the screen. When Headline News had the large strip at the bottom, it didn’t matter at all what was on television because I could read that. The irony is that sometimes I watch Fox News because it’s the only one delivering “news”. MSNBC is almost always doing some MSNBC investigative report about something uninteresting.
Robyn and Company is fine, at least she’s delivering news. You can’t blame her for the trend in hot female anchors. Samantha Bee did a very funny segment on this trend, but I can’t remember her word for it. All of the morning news shows are chatty laugh fests.
I read in Tibet, Tibet that Larry once introduced His Holiness as “the most famous Muslim in the world”. I’m guessing that this might be the same occasion…?
>My problem is that when I want news I can’t get it anywhere.
Yes, this is a tremendous problem, at least on American television (that’s what you can get, right, Christopher?).
A well informed electorate is the most important part of a democracy. The televised part of the Fourth Estate is not much help, these days. Reading the Economist is much closer to useful, if you have the time - though with 51 well-thought-out issues a year, it’s as much a hobby as a subscription.
I read somewhere that two television stations in the last few years have tried “straight news” programs, meaning programs where the announcer’s personalities are not advertised, stories are not teased and thrown from place, and anchors do not pretend to ask field reporters questions. Both failed miserably.
Sorry to say, the problem may be that there are too many Americans who are too foolish to make straight news programs successful. I may sound arrogant saying it, but at the same time, it’s certainly possible and consistent with much of what we see, isn’t it?
I must admit that I got a kick out of watching OJ meandering around in a white SUV, but I didn’t confuse it with news, and do spend much more of my time on straight news than on this kind of entertainment.
I don’t recall that particular foul up. The one I have in mind was when he asked His Holiness, as though he were jumping on OJ with definite proof, “What does your religion think off…JESUS CHRIST?”
HH allowed as how JC was a rather self actualized personality, and probably pretty good at parties to boot.
It’s the standard Race to the Bottom. Unfortunately, Fox News knows where the bottom is while CNN has no clue and is wandering around trying to find it.
I was reading something about this, and this was pitched as possible reason, based on people’s perceptions of each:
CNN = world is coming to an end, US is evil, “we have (more) bad news…” , and “you suck”
FOX = optimism, less focus on negative events, more focus on positive
Personally, I think both should meet in the middle somewhere.
Well, if a Democrat wins the White House, expect CNN to climb back up in the ratings as they will suddenly become more optimistic and spin everything a little brighter, whereas FOX will absolutely have you running for your life because Socialism and Evil will be kicking your door down to take your SUV, paycheck and extra underwear.
That seems like a rather… flattering view of Fox. They do their fair share of gloom and doom (last week’s wildfires? al Quaida.)
News is a product, and the stronger the vision for the product the better it tends to do. Fox, for all its sins, is a strong product. The people who work their Believe in the product. Not unlike Apple, or the early days of GM and Wal Mart.
CNN had its era, as well. Back when it was the 24-hour news channel. That’s what they were about. They’ve never been able to deal with the sea change that took place when competition arrived. You still have an old guard at CNN. Real journalists. But they saddle up to the same water cooler as pinheads like Glenn Beck and Nancy Grace. It will remain that way until someone takes the reins and exhibits leadship and vision there.
For an example, look to former punchline MSNBC. Directionless for the better part of the past ten years, they’ve started to find their stones by following the lead set by Keith Olbermann.
I’d phrase it thus:
Fox: on a mission
CNN: desperately looking for a mission
I’ve seen this happen before. CNN is becoming to news, what MTV has become to music.
OK, most anologies break down under scrutiny, but there may be something to that one.
