Ex-CNNer Brown offers black view of TV news.

[elleng]

Remember Aaron Brown?

'"There is a misperception out there that network executives are stupid weasels," Brown said, pausing to add: "They're not stupid."

Brown's message was that cable TV news-talk, representing the extreme right and far left ends of American public opinion, has trumped networks mainline news programs and is poisoning the national agenda.

"We have become a country short on fact and abundant on opinion," he argued. "It makes us numbed. It makes consensus harder to find." Instead of examining issues in depth, Brown added, "It is so much easier to put Ann Coulter or Michael Moore on the air."'

http://www.seattlepi.com/connelly/427830_JOEL05.html

[villager]

1. he actually imagines the "far left" is over-represented on corporate owned TV?

:shrug:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

13. Yes, false equivalency here

Ann Coulter is way more extreme than Michael Moore, who is simply an FDR Democrat when you look at his political positions.

[dennis4868]

2. CNN is the....

HE said, SHE said network! Th never tell you what the fucking facts are. And of course, Anderson Cooper always says, "both sides do it." CNN is a total watse of time....and their new show named Parker Spitzer is crap! On their first show they asked everyone on the panel to say one nice thing about Palin...WTF????? And Spitzer is a horrible representative of liberal/progressive politics....he was bashing Obama and Parker loved every minute of it. :-(

[Dulcinea]

3. He's right.

No, TV execs aren't stupid. They put people who bring ratings on the air. They answer to their corporate parent companies, who expect profits over all. They're businessmen and -women, not ideologues.

[sinkingfeeling]

4. He's right on. We're a "country short on fact and abundant on opinion".

[dennis4868]

6. If we were a country based on the facts....

the dems would win every fucking election....FOX news is there to hide the facts by throwing out the daily fake outrages.....

[KharmaTrain]

5. News As "Entertainment"

Mr. Brown is spot on. He points to how the news "business" has gone from information to personality. With 24 hours a day to fill it's easier to bring in pundits and talking heads to yap than to go out and do some serious reporting. Food fights draw ratings, a special on the economy isn't as sexy. The ratings prove it. It's also a lot cheaper...real journalists like to be paid and need a support staff to do the digging. These are "luxuaries" to most networks. In this age of "deregulation" networks have cut news bureaus and thus less sources to get real news...thus that time is filled with more yapping.

Also in the past news was considered a necessary evil. It was required to fufill their license obligations. Those laws no longer exist and never were applied to cable. Networks would do 30 minutes a day...far easier to fill with news than the 168 the cables play with. It's now bulk...quantity over quality and Mr. Brown points it out well.

[rocktivity]

7. Is this the same Aaron Brown who called Gannon/Guckert a "so what" issue?

If that's his idea of reporting from the center, I'll take the far left AND right!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=3089512&mesg_id=3103042

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/rocknation/93

:headbang:
rocktivity

[marmar]

8. I agree with him on the lack of in-depth analysis, but.......

the Ann Coulter-Michael Moore equivalency doesn't quite work.

[WeekendWarrior]

9. I loved Brown's show and

was sorely disappointed when it was cancelled.

[Demoiselle]

10. So he agrees that they're weasels?

I didn't much like him when he was on CNN, I mistrusted the mild-mannered reasonable fairminded schtick because I didn't really trust it.
And then I wrote a short note criticizing him for something and he snapped back with a very nasty insulting response.
I can't remember what I criticized and I don't have copies....but I thought at the time that he expended a helluva lot of energy (and bile) on one lousy audience comment.
(And no, I didn't insult him in the first place. Just made a comment that wasn't entirely positive.)

[emilyg]

11. I miss him. Quit

watching CNN.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

12. He has a point.....

....but Ann Coulter gets more airtime than Michael Moore.

[Matariki]

14. Bullshit comparison of Coulter to Moore.

I've never seen Michael Moore spouting bigoted, racist, sexist, homophobic hate. And he sticks to the facts.

The find a 'Left' version of the extreme stupidity the extreme right spouts is tiresome.

[RedEarth]

15. I agree.....journalism is nearly dead

A few years ago, Moyers basically stated the same thing Brown said.