FNC's MediaBuzz

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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[Arlynda Lea]

[FishHawk Droppings]

[The Tribulation Times Herald-Exhorter]

Trib Updates

This is a weekly series that will include a brief summary of the latest articles that have been published on The Tribulation Times Herald-Exhorter.  Hopefully, this will encourage you to go check out some truly outstanding articles that have been published by a number of truly outstanding authors.  Moreover, I hope this will also encourage you to want to become a contributing member/author, as well.  The “Hear Ye!  Hear Ye!” site explanation near the top of the side-bar should answer many of your questions.  Yes, this series also included an “SOS! (Spam On Saturdays)”  segment before, but it just wasn’t working for me.  Therefore, that will be replaced by a republishing of one of the Trib articles.

[WhiteHeart Wednesday] contains a video and the lyrics for A Love Calling.

[The Great Brazilian Beer Company!] has me singing the praises of CNBC (kinda).

[Smokin’ Hot!] has me bemoaning the quality of our local news outlets.

[Atrocities Abound]

Unless you have been completely out of it for quite a while, you probably already know all about the movie theater massacre in Aurora, Colorado.  Oh, but do you really?  For that matter, do any of us really know?

No, I am not about to stir the conspiracy fires, but at the risk of sounding plumb asinine at a time like this, I would like to focus more of the atrocious reporting of the tragedy in this piece.  The image above should give you some indication of what I am talking about if it hasn’t already been brought to your attention.

It all started around 7:00 a.m. CDT when our television was first turned on, and my wife asked me if I knew about what happened in Aurora a few hours earlier.  I did not at the time, and she went on to inform me that 12 were dead, which was about the same time as I was reading a [MSNBC] headline that declared that 14 were dead.

Yes, I understand that it is very difficult to keep the facts straight when dealing with multiple “official” sources of information at a scene like that.  However, around an hour later, the breaking news banner that could be seen on the screen under a correspondent reporting live from the scene had, “12 Dead, 50 Hurt,” while she was reporting that at least 12 were dead and 38 had been wounded.  Since 12+38=50, was it that 50 in total were hurt, with 38 of the rest being just wounded?  After all, casualty counts from war zones are usually presented as the number of dead being separate from the number of wounded, unless clearly specified otherwise.

[CNN] and [FOX News] were also reporting 12 dead, 50 hurt at the time.  So, do not think that I am being unfair to NBC News.

3-4 hours later, the breaking news banners were finally changed to read, “At Least 12 Dead, 38 Wounded.”  By the time for the [NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams] to air, the reported casualty count stood at 71 shot, 12 dead and 59 wounded.

Be assured that we love Brian Williams.  For he comes off as a highly-respectable journalist with a great sense of humor, which is a combination that my wife and I find very appealing.  So, it hit even harder when during an interview with an eyewitness to the movie theater massacre, we heard him tell her, “We Americans do not make much eye contact.  So, I can’t blame you for not getting a good look at his face,” or something quite similar.

In all fairness, it may have been on account of not being used to the thinner air, or that he was trying to make other reporters feel better about themselves.  For aside from Brian’s comment being rather insulting to most (if not all) who do not live in (or at least spend a great deal of time around) a run-down inner city, asking the eyewitness if she had seen his face was a waste of airtime since it had been already established that the gunman had been wearing a full gasmask.  (Okay, maybe not.)

As for [CNBC], they appeared to be going about their usual business every time I checked.  That is, except for the one time when I heard it being reported that the gunman had a .40 caliber [Glock], another unidentified handgun, a [Remington 870] shotgun and a Smith & Wesson AR-15-type assault rifle.  Granted, he was close, but I wonder how many at both Smith & Wesson and Colt will be all that forgiving?  For Colt is the maker of the [AR-15] while Smith & Wesson has the [M&P15].

No, I am not expecting absolute perfection, but I do hope for much better news coverage than what we have been offered lately.  Alas, in a day and age when one has thousands of news outlets available, I would think that all of the major networks would be making more of an effort to get it as right as possible—albeit only just in the hope of keeping what share of the market they still have.

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[The TribulationTimes Herald-Exhorter]