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What do you want out of a newscast?

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Eison

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I can remember when this wasn't something you would actually ask someone, it wasn't even a question. All of the newscasts on every channel was more or less the same. You got all of the news the best they could tell it plainly. If it was a local show you might get a bit less world or national news to make room for some local flavor as well as the weather.

But now, there is not just "the news". You turn to MSNBC and see Keith Olbermann and easily feel a tug towards a certain line of thinking, a different tug if you watch Bill O'Reilly on Fox. Some turn to CNN and that is not without their own slanting depending on the tv "personality". The network news gets less and less about the real news of the day and more about programming and "human interest". And your local newscasts become more about the weather, sports and local color than anything even coming close to real reporting. It is to the point that perhaps the most popular and celebrated "news" show is on a network called of all things Comedy Central, and it's host is celebrated enough for his views and reporting to drive people to start a campaign for him to run for office himself.

Is this what news should be? Should we go forth seeking a show whose slant we agree with to watch? Should we be seeking this area of broadcasting to be about entertainment and not the truth? Was this something born of 9-11 or has it been building to this long before that dark day? And is there anyway back from this and if there is can we, would we even walk that path again?
 
if it wasn't for Jon Stewart, I would have no CLUE what was going on in the world. I NEVER watch CNN/FOX/MSNBC, etc. Nor local news. Just "The Daily Show".

And, I put it on my DVR, in case I miss it.
 
Just to muddy the waters a little, what is truth, and whose truth are we talking about? For example, Martin's idea of the truth is different than Mark's, whose idea is different than mine, and different than RR, and then there is Barry...

Seriously, I'm not sure if the system now is better or worse than it was before. Now, with the new media, any crackpot with an idea and a personality can garner a following with his version of the truth. Under the old system, we only received one version, that of the big media companies controlled by the self proclaimed intellectual elites who told us what they thought we needed to know or hear.
 
I think the confusion today is what is classified as "news" and what is "editorial". CBS Evening News is a news show as are the other networks nightly news broadcasts, Brit Hume on Fox News is news. Keith Olberman on MSNBC is an editorial broadcast that is expected to be biased in a certain direction as is Bill O'Reilly on Fox. The problem is that the lines have been blurred and many viewers have lost the distinction between the two. Part of the reason that viewers have lost the distinction between the two is that the broadcasters have lost the distinction. Editorials pose as news and news shows are full of editorial opinion.

I know I'm biased in a certain direction so take this for what you will, but I believe of the straight "news" shows, Brit Hume's is the most objective. Several media watchdog groups have done formal analyses and come to the same conclusion.

All that being said I hardly ever watch the news anymore anyway. I read most of my news from the net from a variety of sources, both news sites and opinion. Foxnews is my home page but I also have MSNBC news synced to my Palm. RealClearPolitics.com is one of my favorite editorial sites and they present articles from both sides of the spectrum. I check Drudge a couple times a day and while he is certainly of the right he also nails Republicans on their bullshit as often as he does Dems.
 
I don't watch news broadcasts -- any of them.

If I see something somewhere that is of interest to me - I will read stories on cnn.com or yahoo.com or some other such site.

I read the newspaper almost daily, but not EVERY day. Besides sports and the comics, my favorite parts of the paper are the editorial and op-ed pages.
 
see...i ****ed up and watched the damned news this morning while eating breakfast and whaddaya know....DC's Villiage Idiot is going to sign a law today which will enable a 700 mile long fence to be built along the spician border, at an estimated cost of $6 BILLION.

THAT is why I don't watch. I don't wanna know about that crazy stuff.
 
I think the moment any network started to treat their newscasts and "shows" and their reporters as "on-air talent" real news reporting was all but lost.

While I agree and disagree with certain bias and reporting and watch accordingly, I don't feel I am getting an honest take anymore. Not to say that I always feel that it is a wrong one, but never an impartial one anymore.
 
barry said:
see...i ****ed up and watched the damned news this morning while eating breakfast and whaddaya know....DC's Villiage Idiot is going to sign a law today which will enable a 700 mile long fence to be built along the spician border, at an estimated cost of $6 BILLION.

THAT is why I don't watch. I don't wanna know about that crazy stuff.
Click to expand...

if you hadn't put "sign a law," I wouldn't have known which idiot you're talking about. :p

This is such pandering by bush -- he publicly came out in support of a guest worker/amnesty program and now he's trying to appease his base by signing the bill.

I wonder what would happen if they took the $6 billion and gave it to the INS to hire more border guards/inspectors who could then find and deport the illegals.

My guess is that this fence won't do what they think it will. People desperate to come to the US will find a way around/under this fence.
 
also...if the people on the side of the Mexicans don't stop using the term "undocumented workers" instead of the more correct "illegal immigrants", I'm gonna kill someone. Being in the country "undocumented" IS ILLEGAL dammit!
 
I don't watch the news anymore.

As has been said it's not about reporting the news anymore, it's about how big a name can teh network get in the chair.
 
So for those of us that do still try to get our news from somewhere or someone, who do you watch or read and why?

My local news is terrible so I ignore it as much as possible, and since Jennings left I have no real interest in the network news. So mostly I read stuff online and for the most part it is from news feeds and mostly the AP. As far as actually tv viewing I do watch Countdown with Keith Olbermann, because I do agree with what he says alot and with how he says it.
 
I get my news from the bums at the bus station.
 
If I do want local news I'll usually watch WRAL or WFMY, both CBS affiliates believe it or not, or I'll go to their websites. WRAL is Raleigh and WFMY is Greensboro. I'm about halfway between so I get both via satellite. Our other local network affiliates are ****ty.
If I do watch national news it's usually on FoxNews.

My internet news comes either from Foxnews.com, MSNBC.com or Drudge. I like Drudge because he has some really interesting links. Whenever I repost a really weird article here that's usually where I found it. For editorial content on the web I go to National Review, Weekly Standard, Human Events, Opinionjournal.com, and Realclearpolitics.com on a fairly regular basis. I also like TCSDaily.com, Reason.com, and Townhall.com. Blogs I frequent are The Intellectual Activist (tiadaily.com), littlegreenfootballs.com, and Powerlineblog.com.

On my Palm I have Avantgo software that lets me sync to content from mobile or RSS versions of some websites. I've got Cato Daily Commentary, Cato Daily Dispatch, MSNBC.com, realclearpolitics.com, newsandobserver.com (Raleigh newspaper), Bloomberg, Marketwatch, Business Week Handheld Edition, and GOPUSA Mobile.
 
i watch channel 11, and so should all of you.
 
I'd love if when there is debate on a subject, we don't get one generic liberal with views transmitted directly from DNC headquarters, and a similar conservative with no views of his own. I already know what both will say.
 
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