Hmm, you cite opinion programs - they are not news programs and there is a distinction. I watch Fox news because they give both sides or all sides of issues - several strong and experience dems and repubs on there news forums. I watch c-span, read bills, follow up on things that sound, well, odd. Now if one only watches opinion programs; then they are not getting balanced news or even other opinions.
FOX is the only one I can find where any controversial issue has both sides represented with strong people presenting their 'side' on the news programs. May be just me, but I like hearing more than one side.
Don't Blame FOX. Don't Blame MSNBC. Blame Yourself.
- 2009/11/13 01:12:39
- Read all 203 opinions
The problem is that we'd rather be entertained than educated.
Admit it. We'd rather be entertained than educated. "That's the way it was" has been replaced by "This is the way it is to me." We look for opinions to bolster our own. Glenn Beck, Keith Olbermann, Bill O'Reilly, Rachel Maddow — they're all playing to their audience (who, by the way, is a relatively small one. For all of its rating supremacy, Fox News is still watched by just three million people weekly during prime time, while MSNBC is seen by a little more than one million during the same time period).
Punditry and high school dramatics have replaced the presentation of facts. That's because we are a nation of people looking to be proven right rather than be informed. We predictably tune into the show that will support our world view rather than teach us about the world. Or we watch "Dancing with the Stars" while curled up in our Snuggies.
And the world is complex. Reality isn't just black and white. Or blue and red. The world — even the one within these borders — requires patience and objectivity to be understood. It also requires conversation with the ones with whom we disagree.
But we don't talk to those people. We yell at them, chastise them, avoid them. We are as ideologically segregated in the year 2009 as we were racially divided a half century ago. We are a nation of opinionated blowhards living in our separate cable news silos, talking to only the people who agree with us. Preaching to our own converted.
A shrink once asked me, "Do you want be right or do you want to be happy?," to which I replied, "Being right makes me happy." Maybe so, but it doesn't make me any smarter. Right now, I'd trade a lot of being right for a little bit of knowledge. I'd also trade Fox News, MSNBC, and all the talk radio for one host whose only agenda is telling me what happened today. Then, I'll turn to Jon Stewart to tell me what to do about it.
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Admit it. We'd rather be entertained than educated. "That's the way it was" has been replaced by "This is the way it is to me." We look for opinions to bolster our own. Glenn Beck, Keith Olbermann, Bill O'Reilly, Rachel Maddow — they're all playing to their audience (who, by the way, is a relatively small one. For all of its rating supremacy, Fox News is still watched by just three million people weekly during prime time, while MSNBC is seen by a little more than one million during the same time period).
Punditry and high school dramatics have replaced the presentation of facts. That's because we are a nation of people looking to be proven right rather than be informed. We predictably tune into the show that will support our world view rather than teach us about the world. Or we watch "Dancing with the Stars" while curled up in our Snuggies.
And the world is complex. Reality isn't just black and white. Or blue and red. The world — even the one within these borders — requires patience and objectivity to be understood. It also requires conversation with the ones with whom we disagree.
But we don't talk to those people. We yell at them, chastise them, avoid them. We are as ideologically segregated in the year 2009 as we were racially divided a half century ago. We are a nation of opinionated blowhards living in our separate cable news silos, talking to only the people who agree with us. Preaching to our own converted.
A shrink once asked me, "Do you want be right or do you want to be happy?," to which I replied, "Being right makes me happy." Maybe so, but it doesn't make me any smarter. Right now, I'd trade a lot of being right for a little bit of knowledge. I'd also trade Fox News, MSNBC, and all the talk radio for one host whose only agenda is telling me what happened today. Then, I'll turn to Jon Stewart to tell me what to do about it.
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Jackie G - Poker Playing Pa... 2009/11/13 02:12:41
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Three guys in the booth entertaining not one guy calling the game. He was promoted to the head of the netwok and everything changed for all of us.
Back to the topic. I think that Nightly News with Jim Lehrer provides the least editorial content and the most reporting.
The cable channels have more freedom to speak in partisan voices. Though each can show exceptions to the accepted rule -- Colmes on Fox; Scarborough on MSNBC -- they generally line up as expected to the right and left. One need only understand this while listening to the commentators.
Then there is The Daily Show. Don't laugh; there are times when Jon Stewart is the most responsible, honest reporter on TV.
Are they journalists? It is hard to remember the definition of the word. Many anchors are chosen for their attractiveness and presentation, not for their journalistic experience. As this post says from the top, we are the ones responsible for the information we receive.
This is a great post. Thanks.
I agree with you - PBS is the most honest news around.
Especially with the recent Hannity incident. <-- One will never see anyone from CNN, ABC, MSNBC, PBS, CBS do that and receive an apology (IMO).
Jon Stewart (a media critic and political satirist) really and truly stays very honest and truthful in the moments of his show where he is not in "comedian mode".