CNN needs a station manager.

[mykpart]

On CNN today, four consecutive shows did in-depth study of the same 2 stories. Surely something else happened today. CNN and MSNBC do this all the time. They need a manager to coordinate the stories being covered.

[Rock_Garden]

1. Yes, and it's getting worse all the time!

Their weekend coverage is just abysmal. And the Headline News channel is the same.

[annabanana]

2. And those stories are usually of the "carwreck" variety...

YOU know, the stuff that used to be on the back page, Police Blotter stuff. Terrible things that happened to one person, or one unfortunate family. . . Nothing likely to effect anyone else. Nothing in the way of "implications" for the country...

[dbt]

3. They are being very CAREFULLY managed, IMO.

None of the well-groomed airheads at the anchor desks can be allowed to go off-topic. Hence, more and more coverage of less and less.

I hope this country survives long enough for historians (if any) to dissect and explain the media's dereliction and outright abdication of its duties during the Clinton and bu$h administrations.

:argh:
dbt
Remember New Orleans

[KharmaTrain]

4. Cheap News...Bulk News

All these cable networks have a maximum of air time and minimum of quality talent. They try to get away with cheap filler and easy, manufactured stories that they hope will draw eyeballs and cost little to do. CNN just loves when someone goes goofy around Atlanta...or can load that pantload Rick Sanchez and send him into a hurricane or get a video feed from an affiliate that will fill hours of airtime and cost next to nothing to cover.

Real journalism cost real money. American networks used to maintain news bureaus around the world, but now either pool coverage or have closed bureaus altogether. It's easier to do a scripted show that scams creeps on the internet than send a team of reporters into a war zone or fund an investigative team to plow through complicated documents and subjects.

I remember the early days of CNN when they really did have around-the-clock reporting...someone always at the news desk. Today, they pre-record their evening shows and re-run them two or three times...and the weekend is filled with all sorts of pre-recorded filler. MSNBC just scams footage from NBC stuff.

I remember a News Director saying his job was like a gas station attendant. Either there are no one at the pumps or 5 cars pull up at once.