Which news network do you guys watch? (1 Viewer)

[JeremyErwin]

Perhaps the indivdual from NPR was Mara Liasson. She describes herself as trying to be "right down the middle." Now, that in itself might be a willful blindness to ideological bias, but perhaps the time spent in overanalysis is better spent searching out other news sources.

 

[Albert_M]

I was trying to use examples in the context of this discussion. I wasn't trying to turn this into a political thread, but in the context of news programming, politics is part of it. If that is deemed a violation, I respect that, but I just wanted state political bias in the context of news.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Mainly MSNBC, with sprinkles of CNN and Fox News thrown in (since MSNBC devotes so few hours to actual news).
Our CNN channel was mysteriously replaced with CNN International a few weeks back. I really enjoyed that; they actually had reporters going to all of the places in the news instead of Lou Dobbs/InsertOverpaidBigHeadHere sitting behind a news desk. It was also more left than the regular CNN, which provided a nice counterbalance to Fox News on the other end of the spectrum. As it is, I find very little value in the current CNN, which still seems to smugly think that a combination of Voice of God overly-P.C. commentators and airhead bimbos that smile perfect smiles while reading news about a plane crash or the latest suicide bombing is what the people need. At least the Fox News people have the courage of a substantial point of view, even if it's one I don't agree with.

 

[Greg.K]

I tend to watch CNN the most, but I'll switch around to all of them, especially if it's a big story. I do tend to ignore any show with somebody's name in the title.

Sometimes I watch local news, but I can't remember the last time I watched a network newscast.

 

[Kristian]

I go back and forth between CNN and MSNBC. I used to watch Headline News, but now they mostly air trash like Nancy Grace and Glenn Beck.

 

[RobertR]

I rarely watch TV news, unless it's covering an important breaking story and providing "you are there" pictures (this excludes the typical car chases seen on local stations). The various left-right biases are all too apparent. Local drive-time Los Angeles radio suffices to keep me informed about world, national, and local headlines, and the Internet is there for analysis from any number of sources to a greater depth than TV can provide, from viewpoints not available from "mainstream" sources.

 

[Gary OS]

The primary and important difference between Fox News (which is what I watch) and the other outlets that have been mentioned here is that Fox, in spite of it's "fair and balanced" moniker, is very open about the fact that they are going to lean to the right. They really don't make any bones about that. But the other networks people are mentioning (CNN, NPR, & Comedy Central's "news") really do try to tell us they have no agenda, and that is of course a lie of massive proportions. So since my worldview is admittedly more conservative, and Fox is at least open about their slant, they are the only logical choice. And that's why they are whipping all their competition - people appreciate the honesty.

Gary "I can't watch more than a couple of minutes of CNN without becoming physically ill" O.

 

[JeremyErwin]

As for bias, the human brain tends to impose its own bias on the news. Perhaps it wants to avoid cognitive dissonance.

When I read the newspaper, I often come across conservative columns that I know might better inform me, but are better read later on in the day, when I'm fully awake, and more amenable to logical argument.

There have been times when I've switched on NPR's news shows, expecting to hear the news presented in a comprehensive manner, but instead, the reporter is presenting something about, say "traditional new hampshire quilting styles", going on many minutes. Perhaps not a waste of air time--they've got 90 commercial free minutes to fill. But it is a turnoff...

With a newspaper, I can decide not to read the "Arts" section.

 

[mattCR]

I used to watch CNN for the old CrossFire (in the 80s) but they lost it, and their news reporting is at times so "blah" that they cover stories that who cares about? I don't need a 20 minute segment on the dangers of pedicure places.

MSNBC has some good programming, as does Fox, I watch a little of both, also. Real news, however, I get from the web or via MCE. TVTonic has two news stations that I think do a pretty good job of effective "on the spot" journalism around the world. And since I can read NYT/WP/WSJ online, that's all I need.

Hell, if it's a breaking story, almost all the networks are the same quality. Though I will give the advantage in a car chase situation to Fox, because they seem to always have more angles/helicopters up.

 

[JeremyErwin]

when is a car chase ever a "breaking story"?

 

[nickGreenwood]

ESPN

Seriously, generally ABCNews as that's what's on when I get home.
But I get my "important" news from Fark or cnn breaking news e-mails.

/yeah i'm not always up to date on the news.

 

[Rob Willey]

Weather reports on the local news; The Daily Show; NOW, Frontline, and the News Hour on PBS; and Mosaic (News from the Middle East) on Link-TV. The rest I get on the web.

Corporate sponsored "journalism" in this country is worthless.

Rob

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

When it's happening. There was one on CNN Headline News a couple weeks ago that was better than most movies. The guy got in three accidents where the police had him cornered and he hit reverse then gunned out an opening - including one after they'd popped his tires with a spike stripe. It also went down several grassy hills and over a golf course. It ended dramatically when we went between the two sides of a highway into a drainage pond. I may not become better informed by a car chase, but I unabashedly love them.

 

[RickGr]

If one thinks that news on the web is not slanted one way or another they are living in a dream world as well.

 

[JeremyErwin]

If one thinks that news on the web is not slanted one way or another they are living in a dream world as well.

So what's your solution? Ignore the news? Hope that your government tells the truth? Hope that the news isn't important?

The web allows me to read National Review and the Nation without subscribing either to their political messages or to their magazines. Of course these are journals of opinion, and gloss over that which is not obviously politically useful. For those, there are numerous sources, and google news is often very useful. Occasionally, google news will urge upon me some variant of TEEVEE news-- the brief skeletons of once proud AP stories, hacked to pieces by vicious editors-- but no matter. One can always read a different story.

The bias problem is not that some journalists are biased politically. It's that some journalists, are biased towards an easy story, interviewing Tweedledum and Tweedledee, but not the Walrus or the Carpenter.

 

[Holadem]

It's an exclusively West Coast phenomenon, I am guessing ushered by OJ Simpson's run. Apparently out there, they interrupt programming frequently to cover similar occurences. Go figure.

--
H

 

[Brent Hutto]

The last time I watched a TV news program for more than a minute or two at a stretch was on September 11-12, 2001. Some time during the second day of that tragedy I realized that seeing horrible events replayed over and over and over and over again on television (interspersed with great gobs of rank speculation and attempted spin) is not helpful.

Nowadays I browse news.google.com and/or nytimes.com a couple times a day and get more current-events information than I could possibly need. I catch occasional dribs and drabs from NPR news on the drive home. Otherwise, I read longer-form articles about whatever matters interest me in various monthly magazines.

 

[Ric Easton]

I'm amazed how many folks here get all their "News" from Comedy Central.

I work in the News Dept, of a local ABC affiliate. But for national news I still switch around from the 3 big networks (um, that's ABC, CBS and NBC).

 

[Richard_D_Ramirez]

I actually get my news from the blurbs on the Yahoo! homepage!

 

[Scott Temple]

MSNBC ("Imus in the Morning") and FOX News Channel.