Has the nightly news become just another “Reality Show”?

[doug_porsche]

Are they scripting the news (only reporting on the pieces that build drama and/or lead the viewer along) stories just for ratings? Or have people just become so jaded the the only two responses are:

1) You’re just sensationalizing this, I am ignoring you.
2) You’re at fault, you should have warned me!


I am listing to NPR and they are asking if all the coverage of Hurricane Iren was justified of the potential danger. Or was it just a great ratings story (The sky will be falling, the sky will be falling)?

I have though that the local news here that first 5 min of the 30 min news program you got the real news. The other 25 min quickly becomes “Entertainment Tonight”/Human Interest stories.

Your thoughts?

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by doug_porsche

Are they scripting the news (only reporting on the pieces that build drama and/or lead the viewer along) stories just for ratings?

Yes. If you watched any of the network or cable news programs and believed they were reporting new, you would conclude than only 4 or 5 things happen in the world on a busy day and most of it was in US politics. They report what they think people want to hear about and repeat it ad nauseum. It keeps adverisers happy.

[Gretch]

It is not even that........... it is barely veiled political dogma...........

Buncha shameless liars, the only "mistake" blather made is he got caught.

[scottmandue]

Yes,

Real "News" died with Walter Croncrite.

I don't watch "reality" TV or the news.

[Joe Bob]

Irene was such a flop they had to pullout file footage of older storms to fill the dead air and counter the yawns of the sheeple......

[doug_porsche]

And I hope this headline means we already have hit rock bottom!

Pregnant man claims Cher's son Chaz Bono took his spot on Dancing With The Stars | Mail Online

[Superman]

I've increasingly noticed what a bunch of pablum these network news shows are. Then, a few months ago, I discontinued my cable service. Now, when I happen to catch a glimpse of network news, it's really comical. It is truly pathetic what some people want to watch on TV.

You want news? READ it.

[Joe Bob]

Have you seen a newspaper lately? I ahdn't seen one in almost 2 years.

LA Times looks like USA Today......

[scottmandue]

In the old days News reporters would research and write their own stories.

Now they are just pretty faces... celebrities handed a script.

(and you could buy a car for a nickle)

Now get off my lawn!

[VFR750]

You might want to explain that flop to the 750,000 customers who lost power in ct. Not so floppy.

Irene was such a flop they had to pullout file footage of older storms to fill the dead air and counter the yawns of the sheeple......

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by Superman

I've increasingly noticed what a bunch of pablum these network news shows are. Then, a few months ago, I discontinued my cable service. Now, when I happen to catch a glimpse of network news, it's really comical. It is truly pathetic what some people want to watch on TV.

You want news? READ it.

Read it where? Even the Wall Street Journal, which used to be trusted and respected, is a political voice of Rupert Murdock now.
NPR and BBC America are good sources of audio news. They have minimal politics and cover the world.

[teenerted1]

i only watch the local cable news. they rehash most of it every 15minutes with updates/new version every few hrs. and weather updates 4 times an hr too with the extended forcast ever 30 mins
otherwise i'll get my world and national and world news from any of a numbers of different online news sites. i also keep up with the news from my home town on the website of that towns newspaper.
no longer get a paper at home. didnt feel the need anymore since my dad retiered from 40yrs of service at the AP. he didnt need me to pay someone else to buy their services and more.

reality shows i cant watch those things.
why should i care about the girl with the huge a$$ that got her multi mil $ wedding paid for by a bunch of tabloid watchers

[Joe Bob]

Originally Posted by VFR750

You might want to explain that flop to the 750,000 customers who lost power in ct. Not so floppy.

Granted, but not the storm of the century.....

[DanielDudley]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

Yes,

Real "News" died with Walter Croncrite.

I don't watch "reality" TV or the news.

Real news died because it ceased being against the law to lie on a news program during the Nixon administration. Fox News has been to court and won the right to broadcast falsehoods, because they are in the entertainment business.

It is in fact hard to get the real news from the major media outlets, but most are happy to be duped. They just pick their own poison, point to it and beat their chests.

Anyone who really wants to know what is going on can find out, but most just choose to find the outlet that supports what they already believe. It is true that the truth is indeed stranger than fiction. If someone were to parade it out, the opposition to it would be deafening.

[herr_oberst]

Even NPR has jaded me; Since NPR got rid of Bob Edwards and replaced him with The Bobbsey Twins, (Steve Inskeep and Renee Montagne) I find Morning Edition to be unlistenable, for a lot of reasons.
(And don't get me started about Ray Suarez moving to Public TV, that left a huge hole in their programming, IMHO)

The colossal amount of information and misinformation out there has certainly muddied the waters; it must be beneficial for someone.

[Por_sha911]

The news media has always been tainted with a political agenda. Except for a few exceptions, in the last twenty years, the agenda has been trumped by the drive for ratings.
Irene was not destructive in terms of a traditional hurricane. All the hype of wind and storm surge (especially in NYC) was manufactured for the ratings and the politicians that love to get free airtime. Yes, there is flooding but that can happen without a tropical storm on a smaller scale. The cost estimates are not comparable to previous storms due to inflation. I had to laugh at the news people when they reported that 20k people were without power in Queens like it was some shocking statistic. It's sad that the folks were without power but that's only a few city blocks! Duh.
Side note: there is no reality in "reality shows".

[TechnoViking]

The nightly news is just filler between pharmaceutical commercials.

[Eric 951]

Local news sucks big time. It starts at 5 and runs untill 6:30. I remember when I was young, nightly news was 30 minutes and covered everything necessary.

Now, they will start at 5 with a lead story, give a few minutes of information and then say "more details at 6 o'clock" then give a weather update, then a tease for a news story which they aren't going to air until 6, then another story--it is maddening, they end up using the same news "story" for (4) different segments--just give out all the information at once and move on and quit filling time with teases about stories which are going to run later in the same damn braodcast.

It is like the producers have ADD--and the constant weather updates are asinine.

Also everything has to have some type of name, it is not the "weather center" it is the "channel 11 severe weather center" which is completely stupid especially when the "channel 11 severe weather center" is giving a forecast of clear skies and sunny

And why is ther "celebrity" news on the local news? I don't care what movie premiered at #1, or what Kim Kardashian is doing--what does this have to do with local news?

And since they have so much time to fill, I get to watch the "consumer correspondent" test the latest sham wow to see if it really works

Go back to the 30-minute format, cover your hard news, then the weather, then sports, end broadcast.


Sorry for the rant--I just can't stand local news, which is why I get everything on-line.

[tabs]

When I was a kid we had Walter or Huntley Brinkley sitting at a desk reading the news with a film clip here and there. Local news in LA was Jerry Dunphy and the Big News, Jack Latham and Clete Roberts.

I really am surprised no one mentioned the 1975 movie "Network" written by Paddy Chayefsky and I am as MAD AS HELL...if you watch that movie you will see how PROPHETIC it was just by tuning into a News Program. Paddy spelled it out 36 years ago.

The News back in the day was considered to be a Public Service as required by the FFC that so many hours of programing be devoted to that cause everyday..usually at 2AM..As such it was not for profit. That changed in the mid 1970's when the TV execs decided that the News could be a profit center. So the news became Glitizy with the Bubble Headed Beach Blond of Eagles fame as anchor...from there it became all about RATINGS and $$$$, so if it bled it led. It has been all downhill since then.

[tabs]

Television is not the truth! Television is a God-damned amusement park! Television is a circus, a carnival, a traveling troupe of acrobats, storytellers, dancers, singers, jugglers, side-show freaks, lion tamers, and football players. We're in the boredom-killing business! So if you want the truth... Go to God! Go to your gurus! Go to yourselves! Because that's the only place you're ever going to find any real truth.