Comment Archives: stories: News: Today
Re: “On TV News, Sweeps and Sensationalism”
Could the solution be to deny advertising on a stations newscasts and require the stations to produce newscasts IF they have a certain % viewership? Would removing the profit motive from public media affect positively the quality of such? Or should the advertizing rates in a market be set by the FCC for ALL stations!
Re: “On TV News, Sweeps and Sensationalism”
When I started in television news (1977), local news was not widely viewed as a profit-making venture. It was an obligation imposed on stations by the FCC in order to retain their license to broadcast on the public airways.
Somewhere along the way, newscasts became enormous profit centers for local broadcasters. Because stations control 100% of the commercial inventory during their own news programs, and because they have more control over the quality (and presumably the level of audience) during those programs, it became possible for local news programs to generate a disproportionate share of the station's revenue. It was at about this time you started to see morning news, noon news, hour-long evening news, etc.
When local news became a potential profit-monster, it increased the pressure on all stations for news ratings, upon which the advertising prices are based. Consultants like Magid and Audience Research & Development began to troll the country with sample five-part series on tape, urging their clients to duplicate successful series from other markets during sweeps months.
It ain't necessarily so that TV stations practice shoddy journalism during sweeps. It is true, however, that the pressure to produce grabby, promotable stories during sweeps is enormous.
Re: “Hey, Gov. Haslam — CEOs are Accountable to Shareholders, Right?”
@Jim Collins: Find one factual error in the link from the Cato Institute. You can't. You won't. Of course you didn't read it and won't read it because you're lazy. You're still wishing all the idiocy about Wall Street was true. Most of the Wall Street blame traces back to Democrats blowing smoke to obscure the roles played by Dodd and Franks which most of the news media refused to air - didn't fit their agenda. And gee whiz, why don't you still live in good old California? Tennessee wouldn't miss you at all. There is nothing that links California's problems to their referendums. As far as ranking the states, you do have a source for your own financial rankings, right? Oh, you don't? Why am I not surprised? Why do you bother to argue when the facts make you look like an idiot?
Re: “Whose Faith & Values Is The Tennessean Covering?”
Nonsense, the Tennessean does plenty of stories on Muslims.
Just the other day I saw one about a couple of them set off bombs at the Boston Marathon and one of them left a note saying that Allah told him to do it. Then I saw another one where they were killing Christians by the thousands in Nigeria. There were another couple of stories about a couple of female Muslims convicted of raising funds under false pretenses in Minnesota and sending the proceeds to terrorist organizations.
Re: “On TV News, Sweeps and Sensationalism”
We need a @HuffPoSpoilers for the local news twitter.
Re: “Whose Faith & Values Is The Tennessean Covering?”
I didn't realize Betsy was a paid staffer at the Tennessean.
Re: “Whose Faith & Values Is The Tennessean Covering?”
Yawn. Bitching about "the Christians" is like bitching about the rain. It makes good conversation but means nothing.
Re: “Whose Faith & Values Is The Tennessean Covering?”
So Betsy, instead of whining about what the Tennessean is doing or not doing, why not do the article you think they should have done?
Re: “Hey, Gov. Haslam — CEOs are Accountable to Shareholders, Right?”
>>Not that its my job to do your googling<<
A) *I* didn't make the claim CA was well off.
B) Your link won't work for me, it freezes on my computer.
Re: “Boy Scouts Polling Members About Gays”
All pederasts are gay. That is a fact. Read this column about what is happening in our military: http://bit.ly/YIUmTf
We now have more men raped by men than women raped by men. The future of the BSA?
Re: “Hey, Gov. Haslam — CEOs are Accountable to Shareholders, Right?”
>>as trolls like bobsguns<<
Go fuck yourself, Mr. Allen. Just because many don't drink the libtard Kool-Aid doesn't mean we're trolls. Once AGAIN a libtard proves free speech is only what a libtard agrees with.
Did I mention you could go fuck yourself?
Re: “Hey, Gov. Haslam — CEOs are Accountable to Shareholders, Right?”
The Cato Institute, xray/zoombah/gasttheMIA/vladtheoozriddledleeper, is THAT your source? That is akin to consulting Dr. Joseph Mengele about medical ethics! Your previous Wall Street article is based on OPINION from the business (investment) perspective. Considering government is NOT a business, but a service based NOT FOR PROFIT, their POV is rather skewed. That being said, admittedly California (where I have lived also in the past and operated a business for 3 years) is having financial difficulties. In NO small part due to it's extremist Direct Democracy concept, ignoring the benefit of a Democratic-Republic.
Re: “Is There Really That Large a Market of Men Who Are Afraid They're Bad in Bed?”
I call you a jerk because you're a jerk. Period. Don't care if you like it or not. We're not friends.
Re: “Hey, Gov. Haslam — CEOs are Accountable to Shareholders, Right?”
@More cowbell: The bankers didn't ruin the economy, the freakin government did. The bankers were dealing with cards from the government's deck. Read this (takes ten minutes): http://www.cato.org/pubs/journal/cj30n2/cj… It's factual and it follows exactly what I learned day by day watching CNBC (money channel) during the meltdown. (CNBC was good about reporting facts and keeping spin out of their summaries.) When you get done reading you'll have an equivalent of a Masters on the meltdown. I can't believe all the BS people believe about the causes and effects of the situation. Of course, you may want to stay dumb - many do - but that's your prerogative. P.S. Million dollar bonuses have nothing to do with the situation. The banker's compensation may piss you off but the bonuses were contractual - legal - obligations. Unlike GM and GMAC, Wall Street bankers have paid back TARP money with interest.
@OMFUG: I lived in California many years and referendums have nothing to do with their current situation. Check out that link I provided in the previous comment and you'll see that nearly all the badly run states are blue, blue, blue and nearly all the well run states are red. Maybe there's a message in the order of their listing. Hmmmm....
Re: “On TV News, Sweeps and Sensationalism”
Nashville is a great, interesting, diverse city. But it cannot fill 3 hours of morning news, an hour of noon time news, 90 minutes of evening news, and 30 minutes of 10pm news.
That's why we get people like that woman (I don't know what to call her since she's definitely not a reporter) on WSMV's morning news showing us on Google Earth where the Mexican border is in relation to McAllen Texas, using the telestrater app to show that it is 20(!!) miles from McAllen to the border. And she's so breathless about it, as if it actually matters for something about the story.
And the other channels are the exact same drivel. The personalities on WSMV are the least offensive to me, though.