Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Shiny Object News
Over on GOP Exposed, Jeff skewers the recent bout of shiny object news (you know, stories about cats stuck in trees, random fires and arrests, Paris Hilton, iPhone, bullshit "terror alerts" etc.). It's really quite funny, especially if you have grown tired of what passes as "news" these days (and I'm also *really* tired of Apple fanboys in tv and in print acting as if the iPhone is something revolutionary - yawn)...television news is just painful for me to watch anymore, although I suspect that's more due to my waking up rather than any real change in television news. Jeff also shows how PBS and later CNN piloted the sort of uneven shout shows such as Hannity and Colmes. He does this by playing a clip from author of Cable News Confidential (Jeff Cohen) - required reading if anyone thinks this nonsensical "talk show" that features a moderate representing the liberal paired with a brand-name conservative firebrand started with Faux News.
I've seen old shows of Crossfire, I know what he's talking about. And that's PBS, the network that's supposed to be communist if you believe the dittoheads. Funny it never occurs to them that some of the old liberals are probably more correct about the acronym PBS meaning Petroleum Broadcast System, since even in the early days, so much of its funding came from Exxon, etc. But as usual, even the appearance of independence (or any truth about certain issues leaking out) is extremely undesirable. As long as you are given "choices" - like choosing between Nike and Reebok, that means you have "freedom" and you're well-informed. I get to choose between news from a MNC like NewsCorp that got started by Murdoch doing tabloids or an MNC that also does defense contracting...bleh.
Anyway, make sure you listen to the last segment in full - Jeff Cohen talks about how Ann Coulter would not come on to debate him about the book - he was fine with going on himself, since she wouldn't go on. But no. She went on alone and talked about her controversial book, without any counterpoint. Why do these people always flee from any sort of intellectual honesty?
I've seen old shows of Crossfire, I know what he's talking about. And that's PBS, the network that's supposed to be communist if you believe the dittoheads. Funny it never occurs to them that some of the old liberals are probably more correct about the acronym PBS meaning Petroleum Broadcast System, since even in the early days, so much of its funding came from Exxon, etc. But as usual, even the appearance of independence (or any truth about certain issues leaking out) is extremely undesirable. As long as you are given "choices" - like choosing between Nike and Reebok, that means you have "freedom" and you're well-informed. I get to choose between news from a MNC like NewsCorp that got started by Murdoch doing tabloids or an MNC that also does defense contracting...bleh.
Anyway, make sure you listen to the last segment in full - Jeff Cohen talks about how Ann Coulter would not come on to debate him about the book - he was fine with going on himself, since she wouldn't go on. But no. She went on alone and talked about her controversial book, without any counterpoint. Why do these people always flee from any sort of intellectual honesty?
# posted by Sean LeBlanc : 6:14 AM
