As you may already know from previous rants and raves over the years, I
have found television news reporting to be sorely lacking in scope and presentation at times, and I am
evidently not the only one. For there
are actually news programs on the state of news reporting.
The first one of
these shows I discovered was [Reliable Sources] on CNN. It aired at 10:00 a.m.
Central on Sundays, and was hosted by the dapper feller over there on the left,
[Howard Kurtz].
I do not remember
just exactly how long, but several weeks after I started watching Reliable
Sources, the amiable Mr. Kurtz left for a new show on the FOX News Channel
(FNC). Well, I was not about to watch
any show on FNC. So, I did not pay any
attention to what his new show was going to be called. That is, of course, if CNN even allowed it to
be given at the time.
[Brian Stelter]
then took over as host of Reliable Sources, and I was soon finding it to be
sorely lacking. In all fairness, the
show’s downhill slide may have nothing to do with what Stelter has
contributed. In fact, it may have been
on account of the changes the powers that be at CNN wanted to make to Reliable
Sources that precipitated Kurtz’s move to his new show.
Such a move serves
as a good example of a topic for discussion on [MediaBuzz], and the show seems to
go out of its way to present a fair and balanced approach—even when discussing
something about news coverage and commentary by FNC.
Hey, shots are even taken at [Bill O’Reilly] when he has stuck his foot
in his mouth again!
If you don’t
believe it, tune in to MediaBuzz (or record it to watch later) at 10 a.m.
Central on Sundays to see for yourself.
Yeah, it is in the same time-slot as Reliable Sources. Curious—huh?
Alas, I am ashamed
to admit that I was suckered by the MSNBC propaganda against FNC. So, when MSNBC became too obviously
liberally-biased for my taste, we switched to CNN. The final straw for CNN with me was hearing [Wolf Blitzer] ask retired [Lt. General Honoré], who truly distinguished himself
by quickly restoring order and having his troops be of great help to all in
need after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans a few years back, if the National
Guard troops deployed to guard against vandalism in Ferguson, Missouri would be
armed. When the general answered that
they would have side-arms/pistols, the celebrated Mr. Blitzer asked him if they
would have ammunition. Now, I don’t know
about you, but to me, being armed means having a weapon that can actually be
used as it is designed to!
We still watch
NBC’s Nightly News because CBS’ Evening News is almost as bad as MSNBC, and the
whole ABC News Division has generally become cartoonish, which is
understandable since ABC is now owned by Disney.
Yeah, my wife and I now tune
to FNC when we want to find out what may be going on at other hours of the day
or night. However, be assured that we
avoid Bill O’Reilly and [Geraldo Rivera] like they may have a very nasty strain of
an electronically-transmitted disease.
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I think we get CNN at night so I miss it usually. The news in NZ is very short so you don't get much information. In Holland however you got so much news and current affair programs that you become depressed. Lol there are indeed many strains of electronic- transmitted deseases
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by, my dear Marja!!! Be assured that Bill O'Reilly and Geraldo Rivera need to be quarantined!
DeleteNo idea who you talk about but news programmes in general are very limited. The BBC World Service was once something I had on constantly but now only the better news programmes such as 'Newshour' are worth hearing. So many journalists have been sacked to save money and a general dumbing down and PC attitude has arrived.
ReplyDeleteIt's worth an internet search for decent news programmes, but the times are often unhelpful.
Thanks for stopping by, my dear Adullamite!!! Most television programs have succumbed to the pressure to become more about entertaining than actual news reporting. The FOX News Channel is also guilty of this to a certain extent, but at least their entertainment is not as irritating to me as that on others--with O'Reilly and Rivera being huge exceptions, of course.
DeleteI won't watch Fox, which really isn't news, and like you I find the liberal slant on MSNBC annoying, so I read multiple stories from different news outlets online to try and learn the truth. It ain't easy.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by, my dear Stephen!!! I now mostly use Google's Chrome browser anymore, and I have my homepage set to Google News, which supplies me with headlines and links to all sorts of news items from a wide variety of sources. I still think you will enjoy such shows as Neil Cavuto's on FNC, if you would give them a try. For I see you as a Kennedy Democrat, who are generally a lot more conservative than liberal by the current standards.
Deletehttp://www.foxnews.com/on-air/your-world-cavuto/index.html
I do watch my local CTV Montreal News, as I find it the most informative, and I actually personally know one of the news anchors on this news show. I have to be honest, it can get depressing when I watch too much of the news, as it is mostly bad, and as far as television goes in general, I miss the classics. Today it is difficult to watch a show without finding something offensive (language, etc.), and I miss shows like The Andy Griffith Show, Bewitched, The Waltons, basically family friendly entertainment. Thanks so much for sharing, Jerry, and for giving me the opportunity to express my views. Great post. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by, my dear Linda!!! Our local television stations have started airing classic television programs on separate channels that can be picked up by digital antennas, and are now on our local cable provider. The first one of these was MeTV, which I see from their website is not actually from one of local stations at all {http://metvnetwork.com/}.
DeleteThe two I am sure of being sponsored by our local stations is COZI {http://www.cozitv.com/} and AntennaTV {http://antennatv.tv/}. I sure hope you can at least watch their programming online.
Jerry, thank you so much for telling me about these stations, I will see if I can see some of their programs. :)
DeleteThanks for stopping by again, my dear Linda!!! I sure hope you can. Although, all has not going well here. For Arlynda has renewed her crush on David Soul on account of her now being able to watch Starsky & Hutch again. {Insert double-groan and a loud sigh here.} (LOL?)
DeleteI pretty much stay away from all news. Wade pays attention and he fills me in
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by, my dear Ann!!! Yeah, you've got that going for you.
DeleteSimilar situation here ...same old, same old, everywhere.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by, my dear Lee!!! Is there an Australian version of FOX News?
DeleteYes...here's a sample...It's good to see Aussie humour is alive and well. The 72 virgins will just have to wait! Cheers! :)
Deletehttp://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2014/12/04/72-virgins-wine-sold-to-fundraise-for-anti-islamic-organization-in-australia/
Thanks for stopping by again, my dear Lee!!! I sure hope that group does not find out the hard way just how sharp the teeth are of that bear they are poking.
DeleteAhhh..."that bear" you refer to deserve fun being poked at it! Anyone who behaves the way they do are jokes! They don't rule the world or me...and they never will.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by again, my dear Lee!!! Well, when someone wants to kill you and don't care if they survive the attempt or not, they are awfully hard to stop. So, why make yourself a target?
Delete