Corporate and Local News

Yellow-rumped Warbler

CNN came into popularity during the first Iraq assault in 1990. I guess these type of events are very profitable for Corporate news outlets. So CNN, Fox New and MSNBC relish and may even help to create major events such as the Iraq War. Most of the main news anchors such as Wolf Blitzer were cheer leaders for the Bush administrations push for an invasion. I think perpetual wars and perpetual 24/7 news are closely intertwined. The two most commonly used phrases on cable news channels are "We'll be back after a short break" and "Breaking News". I've not done any research on this, but I would guess cable news has more advertisement time than any other channel. Breaking News is so over used as to be a joke.

I'm a news junkie type so I will scan TV stations and the Internet for legitimate news both nationally and internationally. Over the years cable news and network news have steered away from serious news in favor of more tabloid content ranging from celebrity ad nauseam to political drivel. This week has been a fine example as two non-stories have received much coverage, Beyonce's possibly lip-synced performance and the fake girl friend of a college football player.

On the local news front I estimate that there is actually about 5 minutes of interesting local news in any given day. Local news coverage begins about 6am and runs to about 9am and is covered here in the San Francisco area by 5 major news outlets. Most of the news time is taken up by some attractive weather person looking at a map and reading off temperatures that vary about 3 degrees. It goes something like this, humm Santa Rosa 51, Oakland 53, Kentfield 52 and burrr Berkeley 49. This is not made up!

I woke up to the local San Francisco news last week and the lead story was how some places in the SF Bay area had temperatures below freezing, like OMG 31 degrees. For 7 minutes they interviewed people complaining of cold hands and premature cold coffee. Despite 4 people murdered in Oakland the night before, the lead story is 31 degrees!
Yikes, these bozos really know how to waste time!!!!!