The Most Meaningless Debate of All: Cable News Wars

Stop it. Nobody cares. Nobody that matters even watches cable news. If 24 hour news competition has achieved anything it's serving a tiny niche of extremists from both ends of the political spectrum seeking fodder for their real agenda of lame Internet "board wars" and that's it.

The only thing worse than bloggers reporting on cable news outlets is cable news outlets reporting on bloggers. Stop it.

We all have our preferences. I prefer in-depth analysis not interrupted every hour with tabloid sensationalism. To each his own. But I have no illusions that it matters on any counts in any great scheme of things.

The race to not be dead last in among the lowest of all ratings is not a harbinger to the death of any political ideology.

CNN may crow that Paula Zahn is up 32% (to 760,000 viewers) and FOX may retort that's nowhere near "catching up" to Bill O'Reilly's 2 million viewers for the "most watched prime time cable news show on television" and CNN may return taunt on O'Reilly's clinging sham of ratings given the recent hemorrhage of a third of his viewers this year, and well over half from his all time high of "about 5 million viewers" (which was exposed by multiple newspapers as an outrageous lie of less than conservative proportions in the first place).

What broadcast network doesn't own all these self important fools rolled together and multiplied by 5? Any week of the year not only does a single airing of 60 Minutes pound a week's worth of Bill O'Reilly in the rating's hole, but so does the worst of the worst ratings for the broadcast nightly news and morning shows.

Media talking about media is the lowest form of reporting. Al Franken finally got that in part some time ago and changed his program name from the undeserved homage of The O'Franken Factor. Most blogs remain clueless however giving every appearance of Mike Moore or Ann Coulter on some channel nobody watches another 15 minutes of over-reported screaming head fame.

The "fanatical divide" is as fake and manufactured as ever. If one were to assume the premise of the "radical right" that all the broadcast networks are liberal and unfair, then guess what? America has voted with it's remote. Liberal and unfair wins and your "conservative revolution" is a joke. If one were to likewise assume the premise of the "radical left" that Fox News controls the brain stem of America, I'd suggest not only honing up on math and research skills, but stop pretending less than one percent of America is the other "half" any more than you are.

The only worthwhile media on media reporting is really the satirical Daily Show but it's no more influential by the ratings, and indeed right in thick of that on which it reports.

FOXNEWS O'REILLY 2.3 [RATING]
FOXNEWS HANNITY/COLMES 1.7
FOXNEWS SHEP SMITH 1.6
FOXNEWS GRETA 1.4
CNN LARRY KING 1.1
COMEDY DAILY SHOW 1.1
CNN WAVE SPECIAL 0.8
MSNBC HARDBALL 0.5
MSNBC AMBER FREY 0.6
MSNBC SCARBOROUGH 0.4
MSNBC OLBERMANN 0.3
CNBC MILLER 0.1

The point being, these are all the same sick, hyper-political fringe viewers watching the same shows just to complain about each other. No more than a couple million viewers control the prevalent political dialouge in this country (if you believe the hype). Ever wonder why it's so easy to get your e-mail read or call taken on these shows? It's the fringe minorities shaping opinion here, and some real shadow illuminati brainwashing that makes anyone care at all. So stop it.

HEY! Don't you dare compare the Daily Show to those people. The Daily Show is so in the middle, they make fun of EVERYONE!(Sure the fav. if Fox News, but they go after CNN) Hell, last night they had a whole thing making fun of CNN for the Blog Watch or whatever CNN calls it.

Also, they make sense, they aren't "Well, Bush paid me this much to say this, so better say it." But get to the truth, on some subjects. Or interviews, they had John Kerry, Colin Powell, John McCain, and Clinton! They, unlike fox, don't have Ann Coulter, Karl Rove, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter again, Hitler, Pol-Pot, and Ann Coulter again.(not Colin Powell, he is black, so not allowed on GOP News)

Or CNN with Ann Coulter, Clinton, Badnarik, wait, that a pretty good line up.

Anyways, Daily Show is great! They don't "spin" the news for the republican party, they don't tell the truth for the democrat party, they tell the news, then make fun of everyone else who spins it. Like the Pope, they reported Pope is Dead, then made fun of Fox !SCREAMING! Pope is Dead, 26 hours before he did..... Then !SCREAMING! We Have A New Pope.

I would just like to say that I too am not into sensational news....I could really care less about Michael Jacksons trial, yet there is always some blip about him.

Anyway, I really would like to see news about whats going on all over the world. I really feel like the news we get (here in US), is really fluff, and yes, alot of it is geard towards America, Americans.....

No wonder people in Europe and other countries have such distain for Americans....we're so uneducated about whats going on in the world.

I really feel it is the fault of the networks, as they decide what is news (at least I think it is them).

I happen to believe that no....life doesn't revolve around us in the U.S......I try not to live in a false sense of reality (although, being a faery, I do tend to be in la la land from time to time)

So, you network bigwigs out there.....give us some real news!!

Originally posted by RANT
Media talking about media is the lowest form of reporting.

I take it you're not a huge fan of FOX News Watch then...

Saw this quote in a recent Guardian article and it struck a chord:

"What happens on US TV now is that you have a theatre of confrontation so that people avoid having to seriously analyse what the modern world is like - perhaps because of the emotional shock of September 11," says Curtis. "People take so-called left or right positions and shout at each other. It's almost like the court of Louis XIV - people taking elaborate positions and not thinking very much."

Couldn't agree more. I've never understood the obsession with news "shows" as opposed to just news. It seems people actually want their news with as much spin as possible. I know no news source is truly neutral, but who wants to watch idiots shouting at each other instead of reporting which actually tries to seek and report new information?

-koji K.

[edit on 14-5-2005 by koji_K]

Originally posted by RANT
The point being, these are all the same sick, hyper-political fringe viewers watching the same shows just to complain about each other. No more than a couple million viewers control the prevalent political dialouge in this country (if you believe the hype). Ever wonder why it's so easy to get your e-mail read or call taken on these shows? It's the fringe minorities shaping opinion here, and some real shadow illuminati brainwashing that makes anyone care at all. So stop it.

Is it a healthy attitude for a supermoderator of a conspiracy site with an average of 3000 regular member visits a month to call the millions of cable news viewers "fringe"? Not an attack on ATS, just pointing something out.

What you are doing is exactly the same as any talking head on those shows. Lableing people and dividing them. You fail to see that the more news sources there are then the better the chance at truth. A new Gay and Lesbian network is coming to cable, if they have a news show then will it's viewers be fringe? What about B.E.T. (Black Entertainment), they have news programs, are it's viewers fringe? See where I'm going? The more choice the more chance at finding news that fits your lifestyle and concerns. Do you want to go back to the days of basically 3 tv news outlets? What about the days before the internet?

I have no problem with anyone complaining about the cable news program's content, but don't marginalize the people who haven't figured out the alternatives yet. The lables and such hurt your argument. That's exactly what the Illuminati would want you to do, help them keep us all divided until the right time.

Originally posted by looking4truth

Originally posted by RANT
The point being, these are all the same sick, hyper-political fringe viewers watching the same shows just to complain about each other. No more than a couple million viewers control the prevalent political dialouge in this country (if you believe the hype). Ever wonder why it's so easy to get your e-mail read or call taken on these shows? It's the fringe minorities shaping opinion here, and some real shadow illuminati brainwashing that makes anyone care at all. So stop it.

Is it a healthy attitude for a supermoderator of a conspiracy site with an average of 3000 regular member visits a month to call the millions of cable news viewers "fringe"?

Absolutely. Healthiest attitude I've had in a while. IT IS A CONSPIRACY AGAINST DEMOCRACY for a fringe minority of falsely framed nutters on cable news to control the national debate, and would be just as wrong if any tiny faction of nutters did so.

You make it sound like segmentation is illumination. Division is harmony. There are no facts, just flavors.

You're wrong.

.
Greta Hot, Carlson Not, TV Guide Says

TV Guide's Stephen Battaglio has prepared a What's Hot/What's Not list for cable TV, and guess who's on the list? Greta Van Susteren is hot: "Viewers are flocking to her" for Natalee Holloway updates, Battaglio writes. But Tucker Carlson is not: "A tough start for MSNBC's new entry, with the bow-tied conservative commentator averaging just 214,000 viewers since its June 13 debut. MSNBC's audience for the hour is down 24 percent from a year ago. Maybe Carlson should have old buddy Jon Stewart on as a guest."

And, oh yeah, as for that tiny minority of political freaks that you say are the only ones who flock to cable news, Fox News did had all of the broadcast networks beat during the Republican Convention.

Beat the Press: Fox News RNC Ratings Top Networks

[edit on 29-6-2005 by risitar]

I'm not impressed with Greta or that other blonde bimbo on CNN everyone rants about. I am more intrested in content rather than if this or that person is "Hot" Male or Female.
I do like Bill O'riley..but tire quickly of Hannety and Colmes.
I am not intrested in pretty faces or snappy suits for my news. This eliminates most of the netword formats.
I'm also not intrested in this story from Aruba which seems to take up a huge amount of network time lately on nationwide formats far beyond its actual value to the nation.
Most of the time I'd just as soon get my news from the radio...rather than spending to much time sitting in front of the tube.
I am also not intrested in the ratings buisness...it too can be politically motivated ..not necessarily by truth or truthfulness.

Thanks,
Orangetom

Ok, I retract my earlier comments, RANT is right!!! Cable News wars are the stupidist debate ever. I just saw a commercial for a program tonight and it had nothing to do with news, the commercial was about how "popular" the show is.

People have made these talking heads on cable into celebraties. Turning these people into rock stars is not going to improve the content of the news broadcast. The next book I see by a news commentor telling me how to raise my kids will likely make me vomit.

I dont know about Rant being right in all their positions but I can understand his viewpoint about the cable news wars being useless and pointless.
What insults me is the awareness that this network or that network now advertise themselves to more suitably represent the public intrest by default ...more than another network. This is in similar vein to politics...this party or that party are more represenative of the public intrest by the default settings of this new poll that came out. The whole concept ..politically and news wise is insulting to me. In this struggle the quality of the news coverage seems to have substantially detiorated in favor of emotional appeal to the ratings game. Sickening to me!!
To me the various networks ..all of them are shills for their respective political associations. I dont have a problem with thier news format as long as I understand this when watching their news.
When you see this pattern often enough ..you get tired of being jerked around to this new rhythm or song and dance..ie .dog and pony show. I am just not intrested in this treadmill anymore.
What one begins to sense..is that the real struggle is against the American public..in these endeavours not for them and this is that thing for which I quickly tire.

Thanks,
Orangetom

Originally posted by orangetom1999
I dont know about Rant being right in all their positions

He is......and since I can't say it any better than he has.........

Btw, imo, The Daily Show usually has more fact in it's satirical presentation than all the others.........

You'll have to clue me in ...as I dont know what the daily show is. I dont think I've ever watched it.

You may have a point however...if I cant get much real news and information I probably should settle for satire.

Thanks,
Orangetom

The Daily Show.......with Jon Stewart......on Comedy Central.........

The satire is thick and heavey but he can veer a bit too close to irrelevancy at times......but then again, it is a comedy show.......

Thanks for the info.

I will keep a eye out for it when I have time to sit in front of the tube.

Thanks,
Orangetom