From: Michael M. Butler (mmb@spies.com)
Date: Fri Mar 28 2003 - 18:50:44 MST
On Fri, 28 Mar 2003 19:29:29 -0500, gts <gts_2000@yahoo.com> wrote:
> The more I watch FOX, the more I realize that it's a news network
> designed for and by morons.
I'm not going to defend FOX News--it *is* often deeply goofy-cartoony. But
I do want to point out that during my only spate of channel-surfing of
late, they appeared to me to be the ones that broke the fragging story and
several detail followups, ahead of CNN and several other cable/sat
newsfeeds. In my view, not exactly only-support-our-side-rah-rah-rah, and
not especially lightweight reporting. The print tabloids are for idiots,
too, but every once in a while they actually break real news. Just don't
swallow stuff whole, and get plenty of fresh air. CNN might *seem* like
fresh air by comparison.
I think *all* TV war reporting, and indeed the overall reporting posture,
war or not, of all the networks sucks. I think the gimme-gimme-gimme
stimulus/spectacle-audience loop today is in several ways discourse-
damaging-verging-on-pathological--no matter if the diffusion is by CNN,
FOX, or al-Jazeera. But then, war is damaging and pathological in several
ways, too.
If the audience were classier, the media would have to respond by being
classier. But good ol' news-as-junk-food (LIVE FEED WITH NOTHING HAPPENING)
sells. In a world where MTV and WWF are commercial successes, a news near-
analog of either is big bucks waiting to be scooped up.
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