Done with Palin and the Tea Party

[Seamus Fermanagh]

i....no, i'm acting like the yank electorate are adults of sound mind who must be allowed the 'privilege' of watching stupid newstainment if that is their wish.

Actually, we have several different choices of newstainment....lucky us. What we lack is anything resembling unbiased reportage. American news, cable or otherwise, is virtually always slanted one way or the other. Fox's popularity is a result of it's slant being in the opposite direction from the other choices.

What we can choose from is partisan debates packaged as news, in-depth discussions of a subject (but through the "lens" of one set of assumptions or another) by hosts whose point of view is well known, and total infotainment tripe on irrelevancies like a local octagenarian walking in a Relay for Life event. While such "feel-good" pieces televise well, they hardly constitute news. Real news about things like economics, government policies or malfeasance, and the spending of public funds generally constitutes less than 10 minutes of the time devoted to a 30 minute news program.

I generally watch MSNBC with the sound off, focusing on the crawl. Then I can look up anything of substance without having to cope with the rest of the drivel and inanity.

[Furunculus]

that is why many uk broadsheets have a clear separation between news and editorial.

[Beskar]

that is why many uk broadsheets have a clear separation between news and editorial.

This is how I can read through the telegraph without wanting to remove my eyes violently with a spoon, like the urge I get with the tabloid papers.

On the plus side, you could always use the BBC news website. It isn't that bad, though sometimes it is just hilarious when it has to report something that is illegal in a negative way, even though the illegal actions are some what good, as they recently did with the '4chan' articles they have been doing.

[Furunculus]

This is how I can read through the telegraph without wanting to remove my eyes violently with a spoon, like the urge I get with the tabloid papers.

On the plus side, you could always use the BBC news website. It isn't that bad, though sometimes it is just hilarious when it has to report something that is illegal in a negative way, even though the illegal actions are some what good, as they recently did with the '4chan' articles they have been doing.

i generally agree with the editorial line too, but i treat the two separately.

i feel the same way about the guardian.

[Strike For The South]

No explosions/gossip on PBS= unwatchable IMO

[Vladimir]

I generally watch MSNBC with the sound off, focusing on the crawl. Then I can look up anything of substance without having to cope with the rest of the drivel and inanity.

That's pretty much how I watch CMTV.

[a completely inoffensive name]

no, i'm acting like the yank electorate are adults of sound mind

I think I found the problem here.

Actually, we have several different choices of newstainment....lucky us. What we lack is anything resembling unbiased reportage. American news, cable or otherwise, is virtually always slanted one way or the other. Fox's popularity is a result of it's slant being in the opposite direction from the other choices.

What we can choose from is partisan debates packaged as news, in-depth discussions of a subject (but through the "lens" of one set of assumptions or another) by hosts whose point of view is well known, and total infotainment tripe on irrelevancies like a local octagenarian walking in a Relay for Life event. While such "feel-good" pieces televise well, they hardly constitute news. Real news about things like economics, government policies or malfeasance, and the spending of public funds generally constitutes less than 10 minutes of the time devoted to a 30 minute news program.

I generally watch MSNBC with the sound off, focusing on the crawl. Then I can look up anything of substance without having to cope with the rest of the drivel and inanity.

PBS NewsHour is not completely unbiased, but it is pretty damned close. BBC America and Al Jazeera are very objective when discussing American news. "American news" is crap, but there are plenty of other news sources with American television programming for the public to watch.