American News Programming = Tabloid Trash

[monsoon]

[Guest donaltopablo]

Morning hours are probably the worst time to try to get regular news, even on the "regular" news channels. Most channels, the major networks and news outlets, try to use the mornings for a combo of news/lifestyle/entertainment so they appeal to the top base of people who watch those channels in the morning.

As a whole, the outlets have given it a lot of play, although I do disagree with the fact that they did not interrupt or adjust regular programming to provide more information. Last time I checked, the bombings are (or were) the top headline on both CNN and Foxnews websites, as well as top play on CNN Headline News. It also was the top story on morning news/talk radio here in Atlanta.

I think it has more to do with the type of show that was on when you were trying to catch the news, which almost always skips over major news stories (even more so for international stories) since those are not popular topics with their key demographic.

[Wendell FOX]

Well I'm in Canada and haven't watched any news channels recently except a peek at OMNI (multicultural channel) which my dad was watching, and the Spain attacks were the #1 news that day. However, it seems that the Canadian media in general is giving much more attention to the Liberal party scandals and perhaps the Bertuzzi fight.

In fact CBC's site right now puts Spain as only one of the top 4 news stories:

http://www.cbc.ca/

So I guess a lack of focus for world events goes both ways.

Also the thread at SSP has gotten more replies than I had expected, but not surprisingly Bush has become the sole blame for the attack from some of the forumers.

[Wendell FOX]

And about the American coverage - I can understand covering the election or perhaps Martha Stewart in front, but Britney or Ben Affleck?

[Allan]

The only reason I ever watch the news is when I am going down to Detroit & I want to know if there are any major traffic tie ups. Other than that, I have pretty much given up on TV news. They seem to have their priorities very mixed up. If I do watch the news on TV at all, I watch CNN. Most of the time I read newspapers. They aren't as good as they could be, but they're a lot better than the crap I see on TV in the morning.

[monsoon]

[tocoto]

American news is pretty much a conservative propaganda machine. Why would you expect to see anything about the possible health and misdeeds of Al Queda. Last I heard we already wiped them from the face of the earth, and then shocked and awed the sh*t out of Iraq which is also no longer a problem.

[monsoon]

[Allan]

This is a huge power shift in Europe and of couse, we don't hear much of this in the American news.

Actually I did hear it on the news...it was about the last story, & it lasted an entire 5 seconds, maybe 10 at the most.

[BrandonTO416]

American news is pretty much a conservative propaganda machine. Why would you expect to see anything about the possible health and misdeeds of Al Queda. Last I heard we already wiped them from the face of the earth, and then shocked and awed the sh*t out of Iraq which is also no longer a problem.

I don't agree exactly. I started to think the US media were a conservative propaganda machine for a while, but now that I've read a lot of things about the media, the more I understand the media are out for the media and their connected interests.

The US media is based on advertisements, big money, and corporate interests within the organization.

It just so happens that this point in history the media aren't very pro-active in presenting pro-liberal information.

GE owns NBC; they are a major military contractor. Once upon a time, the CEO of GE talked to the President of NBC, a wholly owned GE company, and said "remember who you work for." Its clear the national media panders to these interests. Also, one of the top advertising revenue sources for any media outlet - from small town radio stations - to mega TV giants like NBC and CNN - rely on automobile industry. There are more automobile advertisements then anything on TV it seems like; so of course the media is not going to offend one of its biggest revenue sources; thus we rarely see proper environmental coverage in the media and related urban stories. We only see the part they want us to see.

Is it a conservative conspiracy? No. Its just how they work. And it happens to promote conservative interests to a good degree, but it isn't because conservatives control the media. Its because of the setup.

That's why I've always been interested in a publicly ran network funded by public money that goes beyond what PBS does. Something that doesn't need fund raising, and is competitive to CNN, Fox, and the others.

However, I don't think that will happen anytime soon, if ever in my lifetime.

Media in the USA is not as responsible as it should be, but at least its not state controlled. Again, I support a public broadcast news network fully as my favorite choice, if we had that.

[Guest donaltopablo]

Well here is one for those who think British news is immue to this.

It made the American news (I guess this does help prove the point about the American news media) that despite the surge in violence in Iraq, including that 12 marines had been killed the top story of the day on most major British television stations.....

Did the soccer star cheat on the former spice girl!

[wolfdawg54]

American media just pics and chooses what it wants to portray. At this time, the media is heavily favoring Bush's cause in Iraq by the way it belittled the terrorist acts in Spain.