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You have to understand that people are tuning into CNN all day because they want entertainment and company. People sitting at home during the day with nothing e

by joonix 13y ago

You have to understand that people are tuning into CNN all day because they want entertainment and company. People sitting at home during the day with nothing else to do but watch cable news aren't looking for hard-hitting analysis and dry reporting of facts. They want to feel like a friend is talking to them. They want to be entertained and occupied. That's what emotional reporting, tragedy porn, focus on human stories (i.e. on Snowden's escape rather than the NSA leaks), and sensationalist criminal trials is all about. Sorry to say it, but the people who actually appreciate quality journalism aren't sitting at home during a weekday afternoon watching CNN. They have other things to do, and they get their news online. It's a business and the average viewer just wants to be entertained at home. They are on 24/7. You can't compare CNN to BBC or Al-Jazeera because both are subsidized. If they lived or died by their Nielsen score, it'd be another story. Edit: I'm not condoning CNN's execution as of late. They've taken a decided turn for the worst since former NBC head Jeff Zucker took over. He ruined NBC and somehow got the CNN gig and he's rapidly destroyed what little quality remained at CNN. I really wonder how the corporate world works sometimes.

enko 13y ago
Thanks for probably the most insightful comment here, including mine. > I really wonder how the corporate world works sometimes. Well I do. What the corporate world wants is growth. Growth at the expense of anything and everything else. And if that 3% boost is going to come at the expense of turning the entire network into light entertainment and celebrities, then well - bonus time! I am not a communist. But I have recently begun to perceive large swathes of the free market as being a mere race to best pander to the worst aspects of the human condition; fast food and celebrity news. And you might say, the market is giving people what they want - I say, not what I want, and not what they need. Ask a child what they want for dinner and it might be milkshakes. Milkshakes for breakfast lunch and dinner. That is our news and that is what the free market delivers us. Tell me that adults are different and I invite you to examine the diabetes rates. Tell me that at least an elite intellectual class clings on somehow and I will tell you their votes count the same as someone who cannot even spell democracy and they outnumber us 10 to 1 if not more. I don't know what the solution is but I think we have come too far. And I think governments should provide news channels. Television is 50% education.
- anon808 13y ago
  don't mean to quote from the book of Jobs, but he had a fitting answer: "When you're young, you look at television and think, There's a conspiracy. The networks have conspired to dumb us down. But when you get a little older, you realize that's not true. The networks are in business to give people exactly what they want. That's a far more depressing thought. Conspiracy is optimistic! You can shoot the bastards! We can have a revolution! But the networks are really in business to give people what they want. It's the truth." The problem is not the system per se, but the participants. We have a market system where most people are driven by the market, instead of driving the market. Meaning, most people/companies look to the market to see what 'works' and just do that, instead of contributing something new to the marketplace and creating real progress.

by joonix 13y ago

enko 13y ago

Thanks for probably the most insightful comment here, including mine. > I really wonder how the corporate world works sometimes. Well I do. What the corporate world wants is growth. Growth at the expense of anything and everything else. And if that 3% boost is going to come at the expense of turning the entire network into light entertainment and celebrities, then well - bonus time! I am not a communist. But I have recently begun to perceive large swathes of the free market as being a mere race to best pander to the worst aspects of the human condition; fast food and celebrity news. And you might say, the market is giving people what they want - I say, not what I want, and not what they need. Ask a child what they want for dinner and it might be milkshakes. Milkshakes for breakfast lunch and dinner. That is our news and that is what the free market delivers us. Tell me that adults are different and I invite you to examine the diabetes rates. Tell me that at least an elite intellectual class clings on somehow and I will tell you their votes count the same as someone who cannot even spell democracy and they outnumber us 10 to 1 if not more. I don't know what the solution is but I think we have come too far. And I think governments should provide news channels. Television is 50% education.

anon808 13y ago
don't mean to quote from the book of Jobs, but he had a fitting answer: "When you're young, you look at television and think, There's a conspiracy. The networks have conspired to dumb us down. But when you get a little older, you realize that's not true. The networks are in business to give people exactly what they want. That's a far more depressing thought. Conspiracy is optimistic! You can shoot the bastards! We can have a revolution! But the networks are really in business to give people what they want. It's the truth." The problem is not the system per se, but the participants. We have a market system where most people are driven by the market, instead of driving the market. Meaning, most people/companies look to the market to see what 'works' and just do that, instead of contributing something new to the marketplace and creating real progress.