There are rules in Britain that mean you have to be balanced with news on radio and TV. Newspapers are different.
But yes, Sky News is a decent operation, and some of their reporting from Libya last year trumped everyone including the BBC. And they're live 24/7. Including weekends. And the service is free to air for all viewers in the UK. That said, I'm not certain they're profitable, as its been politically useful for Murdoch to maintain the service. Adam On May 6, 2012 2:52 AM, "calwatch" <[email protected]> wrote: > Speaking of Britain, they can support rolling news channels and we can't. > I just watched half an hour of Sky News from Britain on one of those > streaming sites. The presenter was live or appeared to be live at 2 am GMT > (she did a "morning papers" segment right before the top of the hour), they > had balanced coverage of both world and national subjects (the top stories > were the 9/11 trial, French election, and conflict between the recently > elected London mayor and the prime minister), and in contrast to the BBC > they ran some human interest fluff as well (rescuing of horses out of a > canyon in Southern California) but not excessive like CNN. > > Unfortunately the straight rolling news was tried on HLN and now it is a > general purpose entertainment channel. Sky News shows that Rupert can run a > legitimate, albeit right-leaning, hard news channel (they picked a clip of > Obama from Columbus that showed at his most riled up and unpresidential, > but there was no straw man question unlike what would happen on Fox). The > Brits take cable news more seriously because of the presence of the BBC, > which makes the commercial news channels more serious in return. > > On Sat, May 5, 2012 at 3:23 PM, Kevin M. <[email protected]> wrote: > >> On Sat, May 5, 2012 at 1:29 PM, Steve Timko <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> > There's news and there's news that draws higher ratings. CNN focuses on >> the >> > latter because that's what gets ratings. it's like they hit the beach >> ball >> > into the air and they keep trying to keep it in the air because people >> will >> > leave their sets on if they think something interesting is coming up on >> the >> > topic. So that's where the opinion and speculation come into play; They >> > allow CNN to keep the beach ball in the air. >> >> Well, no. There's news, then there are opinions and rumors and >> unconfirmed reports and press releases and press conferences and >> propaganda. CNN fills its programing with column B. They would argue >> that in a 24-hour news cycle, they need filler between the hard news >> pieces. I maintain, again, that they are full of crap and point to the >> shift I mentioned earlier. It is a reporter's job to take what is >> newsworthy and make it interesting. CNN fails to do that, opting to >> stick with the easier job of trying to turn entertainment into >> something news-like that viewers will flock to. >> >> > The sad truth is a lot of CNN's ratings problems could be fixed with a >> > charismatic anchor. Someone telegenic and who inspired people's >> confidence. >> > I don't see a person on the national level right now. Maybe there's >> someone >> > in a local market. >> >> Local markets don't spill into networks like they once did. Not saying >> it doesn't happen, but it is rare. More likely are cable >> "personalities" transitioning to broadcast. Cablers are getting >> drafted out of college. A few years back I took my middle school >> students on a tour of NBC and CNBC. While at CNBC, my former boss from >> the days when I was an intern introduced me to a new reporter -- she >> looked roughly the same age as my middle school students. In front of >> her, and in front of my students, he made fun of her. He said that >> when I was an intern I didn't get a paycheck, but she gets six figures >> while he has to train her and take the fall for her many screw-ups. He >> lamented that cable had become a trade school for reporters and >> anchors, and he is not wrong. There are many reasons cable news >> ratings are down. One is because they fail to actually report the >> news. The other is that cable news isn't taken very seriously by those >> who own it. Think of the youth (lack of experience) in CNN's Atlanta >> center. Think of the closed bureaus. Think of the British ponce who >> took the Larry King chair. >> >> -- >> Kevin M. (RPCV) >> >> -- >> TV or Not TV .... 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