What D’Ya Read (and listen to)?
I don’t know about you, but there’s only one source for TV news watching for me now. I mean I can’t watch the pabulum-fed, so-called news on the old Big 3 of national TV networks, I have no stomach for the spin lies on Fox News, and CNN, especially with that pompous bore bar none, Wolf Blitzer and that anti immigration-obsessed Lou Dobbs is a drudgery. The CNBC guys showed us who and what they really are with the inept information they spewed during the start of financial fall out. As to MSBC, those two ideologues, acerbically unfunny Keith Olberman and left of left Rachel Maddow try to even the field with their liberal distortions, lies and rumors. .
No, the only news I watch religiously now is on public television. Down to the root core, they probe relevant issues of the day. In almost every story they have a truly knowledgeable authority; not some popular, familiar face who seems to make a living out of such appearances. If I see that con man, Newt Gingrich, show up on a network program one more time, I’ll scream.
Not only does public TV have expert guests, but also if there is a contentious issue to discuss, they will often have two or more informed adherents of opposite positions. The far right keeps accusing public TV of being too liberal, but as far as I can see, they try to take a middle course. Even on the weekly Friday reviews with David Brooks and Mark Shields, there is a lively and at times argumentative positioning between the two. And between both is the perfect, independent moderator Jim Lehrer.
You listen to Fox News with that bartender look-alike, Sean Hannity, or the smooth as silk, persuasive liar, Bill Riley, for about ten minutes and you will think that liberal is a dirty word, Obama is a non-citizen and terrorist, that the country is in danger of imminent collapse and that we have become a European Socialist country.
When I see what Murdoch did to the NY Mirror, and see and hear the misinformation on his Fox News, I lament what innovative contributions he could be making to informing the public with real, reliable information. Instead, like a talking Wall Street Journal, that network is focused on disseminating right-leaning spin and opinion as news. The worst of all are those unfunny clowns, Hannity and that screwball, Glenn Beck.
On the other hand, the old, major (no longer) networks – CBS, NBC and ABC – offer such a variety of irrevalent spoon-fed pap, they can no longer be taken seriously. If I see one more weepy dog story, or a so-called host helping to cook something on “Today” or “Good Morning, or that silly holy roller, Willard Scott, making some ridiculously saccharine comment about some century ++ old person one more time, I may take a gun to the screen.
To sit there in the morning or evening and watch these overly paid script readers kiss the derrieres of people like a “What Me Worry?” George Bush, a disillusioned, senile Dick (the perfect name) Chaney, or a totally confusing (and confused?) Tim Geithner without asking about or discussing sensitive, provocative, unpopular-for-them issues can be infuriating and, in the final analysis, a waste of time (unless you are just looking for entertainment). Look; let’s face it. The majority of people they interview are really just there to sell their book or promote something they are doing or are connected to.
The game of course is audience ratings. How many are watching these shows, and what do the networks have to do to get a larger audience share? That’s why Fox is so damned annoyingly outrageous and why the other channels are so entertainment-focused. CNN with its poor ratings does not know what kind of a face to offer.
So….right now because it has no real pressure from advertisers for significant ratings, I depend on public television for my TV news. However, for in depth, mostly reliable reporting, I still rely on the “Old Gray Lady”, the NY Times.
Arnie Silverman, Laguna Niguel
