Forget about Fox. That station has no business even putting “News” in its title. At least with his newspapers, Rupert manages to give box scores on local teams. On Fox News, even the pretense of reporting seriously on news items is gone.
MSNBC is hardly better. Chris Matthews is not just irritating, he has this bad habit of falling in love with a candidate on terms which are nothing less than ridiculous. (Fred Thompson is a manly man? Joe Biden is what? Huckebee is the real what?) At least MSNBC tries to redeem itself. Joe Scarborough does hard news in an unfortunate early morning format, and is saved by a real journalist, his cohort Mika. The evenings, beginning with Keith Olberman and Dan Abrams fare far better. They actually report details and stories. Once Tucker is put into his grave, this station may yet return to respectable news reporting. We shall see.
CNN is the true disappointment. Not only has Wolf Blitzer taken a potentially useful format and turned it into Clinton-Lite, when they do decide to report on say, the campaign, they do such a lousy, surface only job, that you get the feeling that you just ate a box of air. Polls, clothing, and gaffe discussions, but no substance.
CNN no longer does journalism, it does entertainment. And poor entertainment at that. And should another blond bimbo go missing from a vacation on a tropical island, or should OJ become a topic again, forget about even the slightest hint of real news.
CNN – the industry’s embarrassment.
24 thoughts on “What went wrong with CNN?”
You’re watching the wrong channel Joe and Keith are on MSNBC, not CNBC.
A 2003 study found that Fox News viewers were more misinformed than viewers of other news channels. (no surprise here)
https://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/714.html
Another study found that despite Bill O’Reilly’s idiotic rants about The Daily Show, viewers of The Daily Show are smarter. (no surprise here)
https://mediamatters.org/items/200605250003
“Daily Show” viewers are 78 percent more likely than the average adult to have four or more years of college education, while O’Reilly’s audience is only 24 percent more likely to have that much schooling.
And from the Huffington Post – a study which found that Fox News is the most balanced, was funded by a conservative group. (No surprise here)
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/12/28/conservativefunded-study_n_78528.html
As for CNN, they used to be a 24 hour news channel. Now, it’s hard to find news between Larry King, Lou Dobbs endless ranting on immigration and the endless special report programs about Islam. MSNBC, though better, is not much so. It’s endless “Doc Blocks” about prisons have taken the place of news. However, I have to say that Keith Olbermann is one of the smartest and wittiest broadcasters today. Those who say Keith is a whiner are getting it straight from the ass’s mouth (O’Reilly)
It used to be that you could always find news whether 3PM or 3Am. Now try to find cable news after 10PM (ET). You can’t.
To darknyt4
Sorry you had to go through the Christmas dinner debacle. We got sick of it 6 years ago and don’t do it any more. Saves a lot of grief and money. It’ll be hard on your wife– my spouse wailed, “I’ve lost my family!”. A little later after (s)he calmed down, I pointed out that they had lost him/her.
We were called traitors, murderers, etc. It is interesting that when one notes a trait of GWB, RC, etc. these folks react by calling you a name. They know the house of cards has fallen, but the only thing left, is their pride and they hold on to that like a life ring.
You are not alone. There are more situations like this today than probably since the the McCarthy hearings & Civil War- Remember what GWB said, “Either you’re for us or against us.”
For the past few years we have gotten a Christmas card with the message: “We still love you.” Funny way of showing it and it shows they don’t get IT at all. How about some courtesy, respect, intelligence, maturity?
We do not know why people continue to debate which cable news source is worse. We don’t pay to have any of them come into the house, and use rabbit ears for the local weather, etc. It’s really a waste of our time.
I’ll take Molly Ivins, Mark Twain, Jefferson & Einstein any day over yours & my in-laws. Keep your light shinning!
e raderman
cnbc has lost me, altogether, as a viewer. since i’m on the west coast, i don’t get olberman or joe, till midnight. the rest of the time they seem to fill up with court tv and re runs of their ” special undercover stings”.
That is the $64,000 question. I’ve been wondering the same thing since they installed him. Listening to him I find myself yelling at the screen to hurry up and finish the damn question – almost as irritating as Matthews asking a question and then never letting his questionee answer. Blitzer really needs to take the Carnegie course on public speaking though I doubt there would be any improvement. As for getting real news all of the commentators mentioned, on both sides of the spectrum, they all have causes to trumpet. Some are worse than others but they all have their messages – even Moyers for whom I have a great deal of respect. It just that some messages are just biased while others are biased as well as untrue. If you’re paying attention those that fall in the latter actagory are obvious.
Regarding some of the comments above (and below) I have been wondering how long it would take the trolls to find us. I guess the times’ up. Sad. I assume that most of us know that the most effective way to combat trolls is to ignore them – they do go away, eventually.
But that’s just this old curmudgeon’s opinion.
“Never stop questioning.” Einstein
The web is the only source for viable news. Mainline news is like swamp gas, smelly and noisome containing nothing of value.
I find it ironic that when anyone questions what happens with this government, they are denounced as “left-wing loonies” or traitors or worse. It is not just the news. Over Christmas dinner, at my wife’s aunt’s I was denounced as a traitor because I questioned the intelligence of George W. Bush. Ok, I believe the word I used was “moron.” (But truth is a defense). I was called a pawn of the “liberal” media.
There is no liberal media. The ones who get called that are the ones who stop being spoon fed from the White House and the Fixed Noise channel.
Thomas Jefferson wrote “The basis of our government being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”
Thankfully, he did not live to see what the Democracy he helped create has sunk to.
*******************************************************
As they say around the Texas Legislature, if you
can’t drink their whiskey, screw their women, take their money, and vote against ’em anyway, you don’t belong in office.-Molly Ivins
If they can keep us arguing and fighting amongst ourselves about bullshit and emotional issues, we aren’t paying attention to what they are doing.
The truth is irrelevant.
Exactly,,, To them the truth is irrelevant,, as long as we can be kept from it.
I would say that if people found out and knew what was really going on in the world,, and behind the scenes of power we may become united against it.
But as you said,,If they can keep us arguing and fighting amongst ourselves about bullshit and emotional issues, we aren’t paying attention to what they are doing.
And we never become united. A united people scares the crap out of the overseers.
The more they can keep us distracted and,, as you said, bickering amongst ourselves the better. For them.
Thomas Jefferson 1816 “If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.”
President Woodrow Wilson 1916 “I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated governments in the civilized world. No longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men.”
President Franklin Roosevelt Nov. 21, 1933 “The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the larger centers has owned the government since the days of Andrew Jackson.”
BANKER: David Rockefeller Sept. 23, 1994 “This present window of opportunity, during which a truly peaceful and interdependent world order might be built, will not be open for too long – We are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right major crisis and the nations will accept the New World Order.
I don’t understand singling out Mika B. for a salute as a journalist. She is, in fact, the reason that I don’t watch JS. I’m no fan of Paris Hilton or the coverage of her on so-called hard news programs. However, her very public refusal to read articles about her was self serving. I stopped watching her and JS completely when she read a story and then followed the story with a personal opinion comment and then right on to the next story. MB, in my opinion, represents the absolute worst trend in journalism: blending fact and personal opinion and acting as though that is reporting.
To expand on Yarply’s comment and make the point of it. What he was saying is that the same message can be sent in a variety of ways designed to appeal to the different tastes of the consumers. It may look different, sound different, and it may even appear to be arguing the opposite point of view. But the end result is the same message is delivered.
Keith and Bill tear into each other and what does that do? It draws the viewers to the message. These types of shennanigans are often used to capture attention so the underlying message comes through. It matters not who is right or wrong. The propagandists have delivered the message. This is what we want you thinking about. Mass distraction.
One takes the hardball approach and the next uses the softball with different guests but the issue is the same. This is what we want you thinking about. Take sides. Call each other liars. The more, the better. The truth is irrelevant.
If they can keep us arguing and fighting amongst ourselves about bullshit and emotional issues, we aren’t paying attention to what they are doing. This administration has used this method of controlling the masses for 7 years. Some of these so called journalists are so opportunistic and ambitous they don’t realize what they are being used for. All they see are ratings. But they all deliver the same message.
Here’s a question for you. Why was Wolf Blitzer selected as the host for CNN? Of all the candidates, his appearance alone would disqualify him. And his voice is so irritating and monotone. Why is he the one? Somebody come up with the answer for that.
All these “news” stations are owned by big business. Consider the source. ’nuff said.
(But still, I take my chances and watch CNN for comic relief. Sometimes it backfires and really pisses me off — but overall, it cracks me up.)
Is “John Kerry” your real name? Yes, I really am Douglas Kent Shaw. Just curious.
— Kent Shaw
bryan!!
Still waiting for the “eating my hat” video! When can we expect it?? C’mon old buddy, you’re the one that wanted this meal so bad!
I read some of the links,just as skewed right as can be. Obviously the disinformation machine is as well greased as undoubtedly are the hands that shift the gears of neocon opinion.Hats on head,shoes on feet.
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