I always enjoy Andrew Tyndall‘s year-in-review report, which tallies the minutes each network newscast devoted to the important stories of the year. His 2010 report is worth a look. The most newsworthywoman of the year? GOP Senate hopeful and Tea Party favorite Christine O’Donnell from Delaware. Tyndall notes that the BP oil disaster was the most-covered story of the year, but that it “prompted no follow-up spike in coverage of energy policy, or global warming.” Coverage of the economy stalled: “Unemployment may still be stubbornly high, yet the newshole for the economy has reverted to the mean. So apparently growth has resumed.”
The differences between networks are somewhat interesting; NBC devoted substantially less time to covering the Afghan War: 91 minutes, versus 150 at ABC and 174 at CBS. They also lagged behind in their coverage of the debate over the healthcare law.
But they were way out in front on one story: the Winter Olympics. NBC gave the Games 84 minutes of coverage, versus 17 and 18 minutes for ABC and CBS. Of course, NBC was broadcasting the Olympics, and the company with those rights generally turns their newscast into apromotional vehicle.
Another way of looking at it: NBC talked more about the Olympicsthan about healthcareor unemployment; the Afghan War was just slightlymore important to their newscast than the Olympic Games. And they wonder why people aren’t watching the network newscasts like they used to….
News is what someone, somewhere wants to keep secret, all else is advertising.
This is a frequently quoted and paraphrased line these days.
Maybe being an old lady and lacking Testosterone, I have never quite understood the intense interest in sports (especially among women). And the fights between supporters of different teams and the their personal self-esteem tied up in winning or losing. I can’t imagine getting pleasure out of watching Gladiators getting killed, boxers and wrestlers trying to destroy each other. These are forms of war. Are people who have great interest in these things politically active? Do they notice or care what is happening on this planet? / Media coverage has to choose what makes money. I find it quite sad that the audience demands all this sad stuff. // Jean Clelland-Morin
yeah jean im a huge football fan.Baseball ect.Can i explain it to you?Um no i can’t.
Eagles are on the one with seconds to go ……As the play goes off an atom bomb explodes in the distance.In the instant before I break and run for my life I probably will check to see if they scored.Im at a loss
I’m with Jean on this one. I guess men are on automatic pilot when it comes to sports. Like Michael says he is at a loss to explain, well, there you go. No thought necessary.
I used to watch the science channel on cable, until they came up with what appears to me to be arrant stupidity. But I guess if there is an event on which can make a choice about who is the best or that you can choose sides or route for your favorite, then that is the important issue. I’m speaking of “Punkin’ Chunkin.'” Never a more stupid and ignorant event there is on the planet than this.
I do not watch network news, maybe cable news, but there is “nothing to be had here” for network news. It shows in the winners of the coverage of the networks. I thought that war was bad, not something to cheer about and to egg on. Whatever happened to the “war to end all wars.”I guess humans will never learn, they are just to geared on violence. For all of humankinds’ technology and so called advancement, we are still nothing more than beasts and it shows in how we treat each other.
I think, Jean Clelland-Morin, you perhaps have read Paul Fussell’s “Class.” In it, among other things, he refers to the American man’s “childish devotion to sports.” It’s getting worse and worse, of course (the Super Bowl comes immediately to mind, with it’s hypertrophied presentation of ads and entertainment), and as we lurch ever closer to outright fascism, sports will become even more outlandish in it’s presentation of violence and dumb spectacle. (I’m referring mostly to football, of course.)
Yes, many sports fans do follow politics and world events. I like baseball, but as of late the amounts of money paid to the players is finally beginning to get to me. It’s irrational, and outrageous, and apparently will end only when all the fans are broke. And that will happen, sooner or later.
Hi TimN. (you will probably never read this). Didn’t read “Class”. I just get on the computer and blog – I’m a compulsive opinion giver. I’m on now because I’m lookin’ for a stupid mistake I made – I’m 73 and have my senior moments. But thanks to you and others for the laughs. With all the vitriol on the internet, a little humor is ahrd to come by; // Jean Clelland-Morin