Anderson Cooper - what a lightweight!

[Ron Green]

This guy is on the scene at the West Virginia mine, of course, because they send him everywhere there's a whiz-bang kind of entertaining or suspenseful story. But he can't get as close as the milling throng is to the action! He's reporting that an ambulance is "reported to be leaving the mine entrance" and asking Sanjay Gupta, back at the studio, what might be going on inside the ambulance. Sheesh.

1) I am so glad that 12 of them are alive and will be out and safe.

2) I am so ashamed that the NEWS NETWORK started by Ted Turner has become a 24-hour circus channel.:eyes:

[Lex]

1. Most all cable news is the same.

Same circus 24/7.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. Did you see where he said

"Someone is standing up in the back of that ambulance!"

Then they replayed it again!!

[Ron Green]

7. It's the same way they covered Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans ...

one tape clip, over and over, of the people coming out of the store with merchandise. They've done the same thing tonight, with the scene of people running toward the church. They've got nothing. They don't know how to cover an event that's not totally scripted by and for them.

[Joyce78]

3. It's called infotainment

We don't receive news anymore. What a shame.

[Joyce78]

11. I'm replying to my own message ...

I'm fed up with idiots on cable news shoving their opinions down my throat ... Lou Dobbs and his rant on "Illegal Aliens", etc. I'm sick of the O'Brians in the morning (don't even care about the spelling of their names) Soledad and Miles. I'm Irish and these two are absolute dimwits! I don't give a rats arse about their opinions ........... I just want some news. I don't want to hear what these people think because they obviously don't think nor do they report. I miss Walter Kronkite, Bill Moyers, Dan Rather, and, actually, Ted Koppel. I'm tired to death of Tim Russert, Chris Matthews, Krya Phillips, Daryn whatever her name is = new girlfriend of Rush Limbaugh?? Sorry everyone, it was my first rant.

[lpbk2713]

13. And a well done rant it is, too.

Cathartic experience isn't it?


:argh:

[Joyce78]

15. Hi thanks ... it was invigorating!

[Divine Discontent]

17. I did my own carthartic rant in november...

damn it felt great..

GO BUC&EARS & BENGALS!

[Ron Green]

14. I'm honored to host your first rant in my thread.

You're absolutely right on about the comparison between the real journalists of the past 40 years and those focus-group clones and bimbos on today's teevee. It's a symptom, I'm sure, as well as a function, of creeping fascism.

[Sydnie]

4. At least when he speaks he asks intelligent questions most of

the time. I have Rita (give me air) Crosby on and she just keeps asking "How do you feel about all this good news?" She is a waste of space!

And ... their camera man (MSNBC) must have found some good moonshine because he can't keep the camera still and focused to save his life!

[RagingInMiami]

5. Thanks for reminding me

Why I got rid of cable two years ago

[bluestateguy]

6. He did well with the Katrina coverage

This has turned out to be not much of a story (though we are all glad that 12 of the 13 miners are safe), so I wouldn't judge him based on the last day or two.

[Appalachian_American]

24. why is it not much of a story?

I'm just curious.

Even though I come from a coal mining heritage, I was surprised to learn that coal provides such a large percentage of our energy resources. And how about the fact that the unions have been, basically, run out of business in the coal mining industry? That impacts the situation on several levels. It means the owners and profiteers have an even greater upper hand. Profits over safety. Does that mean anything to you? How about lower wages? How about no benefits? Or reduced benefits? Aren't these the very things that are bemoaned at this board? They should be.

And earlier I read something in a thread around here that stood out to me. Someone was pointing out that there was little need to sympathize with miners about earning a decent living because they knew someone that managed to pull in close to $100,000 a year, while some relative had a master's degree in education and never made more than $40,000. I come from a family heavy with coal miners and heavy with educators so I have no bias toward either one, but why does an education automatically mean that someone deserves to earn more money? Coal mining is dangerous and hard work and something that we are dependent upon in this country.

[bluestateguy]

25. Well I was wrong

In light of what happened in the last few hours.

[lpbk2713]

8. Looks like Cooper is CNN's equivalent of

the Weather Channel's lamebrain reporter standing out in the hurricane with debris flying all around. Any time CNN wants emphasis on a story they send Cooper for a live shot at the scene. Too bad they no longer have Aaron Brown at the anchor desk to keep things serious.

[Brundle_Fly]

9. one four syllable word

INFO-TAIN-MENT

[MsKandice01]

10. I know EXACTLY what you mean!!

Earlier, he asked Sanjay Gupta, "Isn't it a miracle that they're alive?" and you could tell Sanjay was thinking, "Uhhh, dude, I don't know how much food they had, how much water they had, how much clean air they had, how the fuck should I know??"

The questions they're asking the family members are stupid too. "What are you gonna say when you see your cousin?" "I'm gonna say, 'Good to see you man!'" "Is that ALL you're gonna say?" "Well, yeah...that's all I can think of." It's very painful to watch.

[Joyce78]

12. CNN

All of us are grateful that the miners appear to be safe. Could we move the news a smidge forward to more pertinent information for all Americans?

[Dongfang Hong]

16. Well, he was just so gosh-darned

emotional during Katrina. And apparently the one thing we need from our news sources is visceral reaction. I mean, I can understand that. Frequently when watching the news, I'll ask myself, "Huh. So there's a hurricane, and a lot of people are being killed. But how should I feel about this?" But once Mr. Cooper came on the scene and started breaking down left and right, I understood I was supposed to feel sad about the situation! And I felt sad, and you know what? It really made me feel more "connected" to the story. Now I don't even bother trying to emotionally react to the news without first seeing ol' Coopy show me how it's done!

[renate]

20. sorry, but I have to stick up for Anderson here

I really do think your comment is funny ("but how should I feel about this," :rofl:), but I disagree with you. I think it's great that he got emotional during Katrina. Like, you know, he was a human being or something. I really don't think he was showboating or anything like that... it seemed utterly honest to me. The heartfelt, honest reaction of news reporters, not just Anderson's but even a couple of FOX reporters' too, to Katrina played a large part, I think, in the public's thinking that "hey, it's permissible to be critical of this administration."

It IS a miracle that most of the miners are alive--the horror of their situation was made very clear on Countdown (the only news show I completely trust) tonight. That it was an (oxygen-consuming) explosion and not a flood made the previous mine survival irrelevant--yet a few hours after that report, 12 of these 13 guys are still alive. It really is a miracle.

I can't blame Cooper for having to fill air time with asking Sanjay Gupta what's going on in the ambulance. What else is he supposed to do once he announces that they're rescued? It seems like a fair question, anyway.

Not everybody in the corporate media is a dick. Most of them, yeah, but not all.

[Dongfang Hong]

22. No, I seriously don't have much of a problem with Anderson.

I don't think emoreporting (to coin a term) is a good model for the newsmedia to base itself on; it lends itself to sensationalism and can often trivialize the news--drier things, such as political news, has no place in the emoreporter's show. It makes Missing White Woman (tm) more important than the Alito hearings, as the reporter can react more powerfully.

But in certain situations, such as Katrina, it made the situation more real. Cooper's coverage of Katrina was the best reporting about it, because it was unrehearsed, unscripted, and unpredicted. It was our "Oh, the humanity" moment.

But I don't like the way the Cooper trendline points. That's all.

[Ron Green]

27. That's really my point as well. The trend toward mawkish sentimentality as

the prime message delivery mode is not good for our collective consciousness.

[NanceGreggs]

18. CNN quote of the day ...

... from this morning's show:

"They're now about to put a robotic robot down the shaft ..."

A ROBOTIC ROBOT? I thought that meant they were putting Soledad O'Brien down in the mine ...

[Bluebear]

19. "Dr. Gupta, what would 'critical condition' mean?"

Are these questions designed for a visitor from Jupiter who have no clue what our phraseology is?

[wellst0nev0ter]

21. Whaddaya Expect From The Former Host of ABC's "The Mole"?

That was a piece a crap entertainment then, and he running a piece of crap entertainment "news" program now.

[johnfunk]

23. Cooper and Cosby were sickening tonight...

... with their coddling of the Jaaaay-zus brigade and their proselytizing prattle about the "miracle" that 12 workers "survived.

Boy, oh boy, did the mood ever change when it turned out all but one were dead. All the God talk ceased, and Cooper and Cosby both seemed shaken. Cosby even sounded a bit steamed -- more over her whole unctuous mojo being quashed than over the dead miners.

i feel awful for the families, and I feel like I need a showed after this absolute meltdown in news "infotainment."

[Justice Is Comin]

26. I have zero interest in him too.

He's like locked on hyper melodramatic 24/7. And he wheezes like an asmatic.