Are the morning *news* shows always this inane?

[nosmokes]

i'm usually out doing chores and generally unavailable to sit in front or eithin hearing distance of the idiot box but i' ve been laid low by a flu or sumpin here for a day or two and this is just silliness. i thought NPR had turned into fluff but where's the news? there's no news. an actor wrecked a car. that's not news. i don't care how much the car cost. martha stewart made dinner for some other rich cluck to take up into space w/ him. again, not news. but they're calling it news. they present it as news. the thai zoo is showing their pandas porn. kinda interesting in a weird unsettling sort of way, but again i hafta stress that this really doesn't qualify as news.

[Little Wing]

1. Yep, it's all crap

[SharonAnn]

14. It's cheaper to present this stuff than to actually cover the real news.

This way you just wait for somebody's P.R. department to send in a press release and publish it.

You don't have to pay for reporters, editors, camera people, their expenses, etc.

It's much more profitable this way. That's why we're being fed this crap.

[Ishoutandscream2]

2. I was thinking that this morning

Had some extra time getting ready for work, and wanted headlines. Stories on tv shows, celebrities, and idle chit-chat. I wish for the days of CNN Headline news every 30 minutes. You know, a person reading the news with video. I'm not asking for much.

[liberalnurse]

3. They are a waste of time.....

Good talk radio now as a terrific opportunity to squeeze-in and take the "needy" audience. Think about what investing into some good marketing might accomplish.

[Dhalgren]

4. Yes.

[Norquist Nemesis]

5. How in the world did you manage to get my local station

here in Chicago? *wink*

[Smarmie Doofus]

6. You heard this on NPR?

>>>>i thought NPR had turned into fluff but where's the news? there's no news. an actor wrecked a car. that's not news. i don't care how much the car cost. martha stewart made dinner for some other rich cluck to take up into space w/ him. ag>>>

Or on the TEEvee?

[bunkerbuster1]

8. I read it as an unfavorable comparison to NPR, not what was heard on NPR

I could be wrong.

[bunkerbuster1]

7. Eye-opening, innit?

I've had similar experiences of late, tuning into mid-day "news" programming (just what's on at the gym). It's ghastly. It's depressing, too, to imagine that there are tens of millions of Americans who have their views of the world and nation shaped by this.

I know it's complicated, it's a chicken-egg deal (if there weren't a market for this garbage, the garbage wouldn't be on the air) but part of me can't help but wonder why we can't have a more perfect world, why the FCC can't grow a pair and re-establish the notion that these TV channels (no longer broadcast, I know) are supposed to represent the public interest and serve a higher master than filthy lucre.

Anyway, back to your message--yeah, the morning programs are just as bad, and I never watch them at home. Never.

[DrRang]

9. Don't know. Gave 'em up after the 2000 election.

[youthere]

10. yes. yes they are.

[KharmaTrain]

11. On The Road...Television Hell

I was in Arizona last week...one hotel I stayed at didn't have Comedy Central (No Daily Show!!!) or C-SPAN...just the "major" cable channels. One morning we tried to suffer through Miles Mindbender and Braindead O'Brien on CNN. I heard more talking points out of their pieholes than at a local GOOP rally. I popped over to MSNBC and there was Anus and his jackals...another waste of electrons. But it sure did help put us to sleep at night.

Thank goodness for my laptop! Besides being able to keep up with DU and my blogs, I bought a Sling Box...a device that hooks up to my cable at home and allows me to watch stuff on the road. While Holiday Inn didn't see fit in providing Comedy Central, I didn't miss a show...in fact caught it 3 hours earlier than the locals :woohoo:

[hatrack]

12. They've always pretty much sucked . . .

But the Hoover motor horsepower has been increasing steadily for a couple of decades now.

[Broadslidin]

13. t.v. content is simply, an accurate reflection of the Bubble Brained viewers.

Done On The Cheap...!

[Supersedeas]

15. Feeding the masses heaps of superficial to AVOID political engagement--the new creed

of today's journalistic standard of 'public service'

[Squatch]

16. Try watching Robin and Company on CNN HLN