I often forget that CNN is still a part of my cable lineup, but this weekend, I tuned in to see if they were covering the protests in Wisconsin, but instead they were extensively discussing what they thought celebrities might wear to the Academy Awards. Good times.
This article appears in Feb 24 – Mar 2, 2011.
As the local news goes, so go the big networks’ news. Local news consists of nothing of substance because people don’t want to think about bad or complicated stuff. Can you imagine if local news reported consistently on the doings of city council and the state legislature? Forget it. You have to show the weather 3 or 4 times per half hour, show as many stories as possible involving babies or kids with diseases, sports, and there has to be an amusing ‘human interest story’ at the end. When I was a kid the local news covered city council in depth, and there were even political debates between conservative, moderate and liberal commentators on the air. Today, that’s a snoozefest for most viewers. So of course CNN is headed the same way, and Fox is already there.