On Feb 24, 9:33 am, "Kevin M." <[email protected]> wrote: > I notice that actors and other entertainers are usually quick to point > out that they are grossly overpaid, and they usually do this when they > are publicly contributing to relief efforts for a place like Haiti. > Perhaps they fail to see that the dumbing down of media is in need of > its own telethon. Perhaps they fail to see that a well-funded, > impartial news organization that directly competed against the > low-rent slum of FoxNews would reduce FoxNews to nothing within three > years (same for MSNBC -- and CNN).
The problem is that THE PUBLIC DOESN'T WANT SERIOUS NEWS. Serious news on television is only successful when it has no competition. Ted Koppel did "Nightline" his way for as long as he did because he had Johnny and old movies as competition and ABC didn't have any idea what else to do in late-night. CNN was purposeful and serious when it was the only game in town (and Ted Turner ran it). MSNBC was no challenge to it but when Roger Ailes came along with his wingnut-talk-radio-on-TV Fox News Channel, he damaged CNN permanently. Sainted "60 Minutes" was a ratings-winner only when it was put on Sunday nights at 7 because the FCC said the only way the networks could get back that hour from the stations was by putting on either news or kid shows (and Don Hewitt was accused of being over showbizzy--and they did their share of pufferoonies on showbiz stars, even if they didn't do the equivalents to The Situation and Snooki). In Chicago, WBBM tried a very serious newscast (10-minute lead stories, weather cut to 30 seconds, no gratuitous live shots or crime coverage, arts instead of showbiz gossip, no sports many nights) with Carol Marin at 10 p.m. against the consultant-driven news shows on the other network stations and got their butts kicked. And I suspect that people watched Cronkite and Huntley-Brinkley more for their personalities than any thoughts that they wanted to be informed of the major issues of the day. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
