Boycott Cable News
Apr 17th, 2007 at 1:25 pm by Susie
It is on days like this (home sick, eyes too bleary to read much) that I’m happy I have cable. That means, instead of staring mindlessly at the hypnotic parsing and re-parsing of the latest tragedy, I get to watch old movies - or even new ones.
I hate cable news channels and rarely watch. (Except for Keith.) I hate the National Enquirerization of the national dialogue, and I hate the false questions they pose to their viewers. And it’s not that I don’t love trash - I will happily spend an entire morning in my mechanic’s waiting room, reading through old issues of People.
It’s that they consistently put up road blocks between the public and the public interest. They instead shove the latest scandal in front of us over and over and over again, until our eyes are glazed over. I’d much rather watch a movie.
There are few news stories so compelling that you need to see them in real time. (Except natural disasters, because you might be in the path of them.) Take your time, give an issue time to digest. Read a book or a magazine instead. It’ll keep, and you’ll be wiser for it.
Amen!
The Blackburg massacre is deflecting attention from Al Gonzales, and giving GWB a podium for plenteous platitudes at today’s convocation.
Yes, double Amen.
Media spectacle is obviously a crucial element in the current rightwing phase. Misinformation, distraction, lies, or, as you put it, the National Enquirerization of public discourse.
Anything that lessens its grip individually or collectively is a great thing.
Boycotting cable news would be an excellent project.
The cable news in theory is a good thing, i.e. access all the time to information. There are a couple of problems in the real world, as with most theories. First off is that 24 hours is a lot of time to fill and since most Americans don’t care what happens outside the country.
Secondly the cable outlets all too often still act like they are on the old over the air broadcasts with tight time restrictions. Why spend the time to explain something correctly when a 10 second sound bite will say something. Of course the full, in context story is lost but hey there’s always tomorrow for another 10 seconds.