For the Cable TV Masochists

[stevedeshazer]

Why?

Why do you waste your time and money debating the finer points of CNN and Fox and MSNBC political programming?

About 400,000 viewers watch CNN and MSNBC each day, and about double that number watch Fox "News".

Add them up. At best, on a given day, maybe 2,000,000 people watch cable news in a nation of nearly 300,000,000.

Generously, that's less than 7% of the nation.

Serious question: Why does it matter, especially when you already know that wealthy extremists own these networks and control the content?

Flame suit on. Go ahead. I'm getting used to the warm weather. :)

[Mika]

1. Because we're American, damn it

:crazy:

[Toots]

2. You do have the right but your logic is lacking.

:shrug:

[stevedeshazer]

7. Best answer so far.

Woo-hooo!

[salinen]

3. Your argument suggests

that it's always the same 7%.

[stevedeshazer]

6. I honestly don't know

Is it always the same 7%? Probably not.

[truebrit71]

4. Nice sign in the middle of that pic...

I don't watch Faux Spews, I have stopped watching Faux Lite (cnn) and the only cable show I pay any attention to on a regular basis is Keith Olberman.

I get my info from the 'net, the Beeb, www.guardian.co.uk and The Independent.

[stevedeshazer]

14. I love the Beeb

I listen often on shortwave. Free, except for the juice it takes to warm up the tubes in my Zenith Trans-Oceanic. :)

[MO_Dem]

5. Know thine enemy?

I'm not willing to just give up. I think we deserve an all news channel that tells us the news, and I keep hoping someday we will get one if we keep demanding it. Maybe someday a cable channel will build one, or become one.

[stevedeshazer]

8. That's a legitimate argument

I listen to Limbaugh and Hannity sometimes when I'm driving, but it's free.

What happened to Al Gore's network, anyway?

[Shopaholic]

9. Because I'm a news junkie---

and it's fun to me to compare what I'm hearing on the broadcast networks, the cable networks, and what I know to be true from what I read in internet land through legit news organizations. And I don't necessarily believe it's a good thing to hide your head in the sand and ignore what's going on in broadcast land. I enjoy calling CNN on their bullshit even if it doesn't do any good. And I enjoy praising MSNBC when they get it right (Olbermann does 99% of the time, Tweety, about 50/50). What do you want me to do--watch Fox--just because they've got more ratings?

If you compare the MSNBC & CNN ratings to Fox, yes, they are both getting their clocks cleaned. But look at it another way, the audience that Faux pulls in is still only a fraction of the total cable audience and an even smaller number when you consider how many people watch regular broadcast tv programming. My guess is that the 2M that watch Faux are the hardcore Repugs. They need the kool-aid so that's what they tune in for.

[Pirate Smile]

10. I'm with you, scmirage. Sure, they piss me off sometimes, but how

would I have seen Cleland when he tried to deliver the letter to the "Ranch" and gave his awesome press conference that cannot be adequately described in an article.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

11. The Evening News Broadcasters (Rather, Brokaw, Jennings)...

speak in full sentences too.

:bounce:

[stevedeshazer]

13. That's a fair and balanced answer

Just kidding.

I agree that it must be fun to compare cable programs as a news junkie; I'm one, too. I just think it's very overrated

Air America streams 2,000,000 listeners per day. :)

[AP]

12. Right on! I can BARELY understand listening to NPR all day and arguing

about their crappy coverage (and that's because they're the best of a bad bunch).

But to watch more than a 10 minutes of cable a day? UGH!!!

Yeah, know thine enemy, but let's parcel out 10 minute slots so you don't have destroy your brain cells

[stevedeshazer]

15. Yup.

Just a few clicks and you'll find out as much as your brain can process on any given day without turning on your monopolist cable teevee companee.

[EST]

16. With all the numbers flying around,

it seems anyone can pull the right numbers out of the stream to prove any particular point. My question- how the heck is it that 2 weeks after an ad starts running that is JFK negative, howcum 70+% of polled opinions have seen it?