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How about this: FUCK TV NEWS, PERIOD.

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WilliamPitt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 12:24 PM
Original message
How about this: FUCK TV NEWS, PERIOD.
I never watched Olbermann or Maddow on anything even remotely close to a regular basis. If something big happened and I knew a "Special Comment" was coming, I'd tune in. I've watched Maddow a few times, and she is regularly excellent...in my mind, better than Olbermann on several levels.

But I don't watch TV news channels. EVER. I gave them up years ago, and am much happier for it.

I'm not dogging anyone who is upset over this Olbermann fiasco. It augurs towards any number of disturbing conclusions about the nature of the information we get today, and the information we will get in the future.

But I already knew that...and I'd bet my shoes that so did you.

TV News punched a lot of you in the face last night.

Fuck TV News.

Don't give them this power over you. Reading always works better.

My 2 cents... and :hug: to those in pain today because of what happened.
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w8liftinglady Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 12:26 PM
Response to Original message
1. I have already... and not in a good way
Link TV is where I get a lot of my news...
BBC


I'm sick of the rhetoric
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Kalyke Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 12:26 PM
Response to Original message
2. Would agree with everything there except that I don't think
Maddow is better than Keith on many levels.

She's smart, but she's just too sweet for my news-getting tastes. It's hard for me to trust people who smile that much. Ha!
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emulatorloo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 12:30 PM
Response to Reply #2
4. Nobody does better reporting, Solidly fact based. Sorry she smiles too much!
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tavalon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 01:03 AM
Response to Reply #4
52. I like her smile
and I like that the people she disembowels smile right back at her, not realizing her scalpel has removed their spleen, et al.
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tavalon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 12:57 AM
Response to Reply #2
48. Rachel sweet?!
Sardonic, smartass, but sweet. Besides, she doesn't do news, she comments on the news, just like Olbermann. They are very different in their styles/
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jmondine Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 12:59 AM
Response to Reply #2
49. Both Keith and Rachel take their opponents apart
It's just that Keith uses a sledgehammer and Rachel uses a scalpel.
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Initech Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 12:30 PM
Response to Original message
3. I never watch network news to begin with.
If I want news I'll go online. If I want opinions I'll turn to Stewart, Colbert, and Maher.
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Matariki Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 12:33 PM
Response to Original message
5. I'm with you - let them go the way of newsprint.
I confess to watching podcasts of Rachael's show occasionally. Otherwise, meh.
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The_Commonist Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 12:35 PM
Response to Original message
6. I haven't had TV in the house...
...since the broadcast spectrum switched over to digital.
I'm not going to PAY to have that crap in my home.
Youtube, Netflix, HULU, and DU provides me with MORE than enough televisual distraction.
TV news is not news, and I haven't watched it since the last millennium.
(my father was a journalist, and every evening at 6:30, we watched the news when I was growing up, so it is something I was in the habit of doing for most of my life.)

And even though I generally agree with most of what they say, Keith and Rachel are just as much a part of the corporatist propaganda machine as Glenn and Billo. A huge portion of their content is simply complaining about what those other guys are doing, and it gets really old sometimes...
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chillspike Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 10:02 AM
Response to Reply #6
61. NPR is a good alternative to the combative sort of news (nt)
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go west young man Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 10:13 AM
Response to Reply #6
63. Smart way to go.
Edited on Sun Jan-23-11 10:14 AM by go west young man
No cable here either. 27 inch IMAC with high speed internet and Netflix.
DU and the Daily Show are all we need. Cable is so fucked up it can only
lead to brain damage. Let's see.

MTV music television= Crap kid's Reality shows, spoiled crying 16 year old assholes.
VH1=pathetic reality show rejects
All corporate "news"=Propaganda
The History Channel=religious and WW2 propaganda, jesus, jesus, jesus is all they cover.
A&E-(arts and entertainment=Baby Stories
Lifetime= Mom's killing deranged husbands/cheerleaders
MSNBC= Prison life/ Chris Hanson's juvenile rapeathon
The Discovery Channel-Shrimp boat captains, man vs. ego, and idiots who fuck with sharks.
True TV- fat cops who taser rednecks.
ABC=America's stupidest brainwashed family's.
CBS= Katie Couric's misaligned face lift. Just goes to show how fake it all is.
Every other channel= 25 channels of religious programming bullshit on Sunday morning.
13 otherwise. Plus tons of crap late night infomercials selling mops, vacuums, and diets.

It's a perfect recipe for insanity. Way to fuck your minds up America.
I'm sure there's some fat dumb ass out there reading this and going "yeah but I gotta have my sports".

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TicketyBoo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 11:23 AM
Response to Reply #6
76. I don't agree.
Keith and Rachel are just as much a part of the corporatist propaganda machine as Glenn and Billo. A huge portion of their content is simply complaining about what those other guys are doing


Keith and Rachel tell the truth. I can't ever remember Rachel saying anything that wasn't 100% true (unlike Beck and O'Reilly). I really respect the researchers on Rachel's show. They go the extra mile on digging up things from the past to skewer people with their own words.

I would never know what crapola FauxNews is spewing if I didn't watch MSNBC because I never watch it. I thought I'd watch Neil Cavuto once in awhile, and find that my TV doesn't deliver the audio on that channel. How's that for funny?

Honestly, Countdown was my favorite show on TV, and I will be kinda lost without it. Rachel is great, too, but I will really, really miss Olbermann. Wherever he lights, I'll be there. Do you suppose he may actually end up on Murdoch's operation? That would be rather hilarious. (Anything for a buck, I'm guessing.) I'd have to get a new TV if that happens in order to hear him, though.
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Auggie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 12:36 PM
Response to Original message
7. I like Olbermann and Maddow, though being reminded on a daily basis
of the half-truths and lies and bullshit of others had me turn them off months ago. I am happier about it -- for my own well-being. But also saddened, because a loud voice for liberalism is being silenced.
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emulatorloo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 12:36 PM
Response to Original message
8. I agree with your premise but 1, You should watch Maddow more. 2. Most blogs are BS
Edited on Sat Jan-22-11 12:36 PM by emulatorloo
There are way too many blogs out there that are basically fact-free opinion, even if they purport to be fact-based.

I read your stuff because you are a good reporter and you have high standards, There are others who do as well, But you folks are in the minority, I'm afraid.
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krabigirl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 02:27 PM
Response to Reply #8
34. Who would read blogs to get fact-based news? I go to the Guardian and the BBC.
Edited on Sat Jan-22-11 02:28 PM by krabigirl
Blogs are great, don't get me wrong but not for news.
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Jackpine Radical Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 12:37 PM
Response to Original message
9. I gave up network news (and the rest of TV for the most part)
years ago. Decades ago. I used to sometimes watch McNeil-Lehrer, and then Lehrer, maybe into the early 90's. Maybe 1990. Since then, nothing.

So I agree. Or pre-agree.
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muriel_volestrangler Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 12:39 PM
Response to Original message
10. "TV News", or "TV News channels"?
The body of your OP seems to mean the latter, despite your thread title.

Or are you saying that it's not worth having any professional moving pictures to report the news? Because, depsite what some online fans might like to think, if you want video of anything beyond that done by amateurs who happen to be there at the time, you're looking at TV news. Even if you're watching it online, Reuters or whoever is TV news - they pay their professional cameramen, and sell it to TV stations around the world for news programs.

And, yes, sometimes seeing pictures really does convey more. Ask Bob Geldof, who saw the TV news reports from Ethiopia in 1984, and founded a multi-million dollar charity because of it, because so many other people were affected in the same way by the pictures. Reading wouldn't have done that.

Anyway, Olbermann, and Maddow, aren't "TV news" - they are TV analysis and comment on the news.
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WilliamPitt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 12:47 PM
Response to Reply #10
15. My answer?
Yes.
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elocs Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 12:42 PM
Response to Original message
11. I watch tv, but not tv news. Too much following & fawning over the talking heads
as they cleverly and with outrage spoonfeed you what they think you should think.
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Ghost in the Machine Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 12:45 PM
Response to Original message
12. I'm way ahead of you, Mr Pitt..
I haven't watched any news on TV in 7 or 8 years, maybe longer. I get my news from here, or other online sources.

:hi:

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bemildred Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 12:47 PM
Response to Original message
13. K&R. nt
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Cirque du So-What Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 12:47 PM
Response to Original message
14. OK by me
I haven't watched TV news on a regular basis in more years than I care to count, and I daresay I'm better-informed on current events than the vast majority of those who entrust their brains to the tender mercies of corporate media programmers every day (DUers excluded, of course).
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patrice Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 12:50 PM
Response to Original message
16. I get ALL of my news from the internet. I watch an occasional speech on TV, or a debate on CSPAN,
other than that about the only things I watch on TV are TCM, Breaking Bad, and BSG/Caprica.

TV is mostly trash.
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patrice Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 12:57 PM
Response to Reply #16
20. On edit: TV is mostly disgusting trash. nt
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steve2470 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 12:50 PM
Response to Original message
17. Nothing on TV compares to DU and other decent sites.
Sad but true. Rachel is great but she doesn't have enough time to lay out all the facts.
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The Backlash Cometh Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 12:52 PM
Response to Original message
18. Confession:
I haven't been watching network or cable news for several years until the Olbermann skirmish of a few weeks back. I started watching MSNBC from six to nine, off and on, since then. But, will probably just drop it. It just isn't worth spending an hour of my life just to wait for ten minutes of agreement on an issue.
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EFerrari Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 12:56 PM
Response to Original message
19. Support the independent media. They answer to you, not to a multinational
and they report news, not gossip and spin. Amy, Laura, the niche shows like GayUSA and Mosaic, they all need support to continue. Turn off the corporate cr@P and say good bye to commercials.
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Lorien Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 09:45 AM
Response to Reply #19
59. +1. nt
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murielm99 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 12:58 PM
Response to Original message
21. I don't watch, either.
If there is some sort of a commotion over what Olbermann or O'Reilly said, or one of the others, I have to find the thing online. There are so many other, better ways to find the news.
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Gregorian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 01:13 PM
Response to Original message
22. Now take the next step. Go non-commercial.
Or at least attempt to do that.

I dropped the nightly news when the Fairness Doctrine was killed. I didn't know what the doctrine was, at the time. I just knew something had changed, and it wasn't for the better. Walter Cronkite's space was filled with a hairdo.

Commercial is MacDonald's. Non-commercial is a bunch of spinach.
Commercial is a can of orange juice. Non-commercial is an orange.
Commercial is an orange with a Dole sticker on it. Non-commercial is an orange grown locally. Or something else, if you live in a place that doesn't have oranges.
Commercial is pretty much anything with a big carbon footprint.
Commercial is filling your car up with gas. Non-commercial is riding your bike to work. Sorry if you designed your life so that you need lots of gas. If that's the case, then you are the problem.
Commercial is MSNBC. Non-commercial is LinkTV.
Commercial is AMC. Non-commercial is TCM. Have you noticed how nice TCM is. And how they are slowly becoming less nice as they start to grow and become a bit more glittery? I predict they'll be commercial soon.

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krabigirl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 02:30 PM
Response to Reply #22
36. I agree with your post, even about the gas. We are in the process of moving closer to where we work.
We can't bike there..things are too spread out here in SoCal, but it would be a short drive. Well, maybe we could bike there. We shall see.
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Lorien Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 09:52 AM
Response to Reply #22
60. Commercial is eating meat
Meat production has a much bigger carbon footprint than every vehicle on earth combined.
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Gregorian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 12:25 PM
Response to Reply #60
80. Commercially raised animals, yes.
Edited on Sun Jan-23-11 12:29 PM by Gregorian
Not organic on a local farm. The sheep down the street, just graze on the grass that grows. No carbon footprint.


I've got to add that most people focus on the symptoms of the true problem that faces us. Huge commercial farms are a function of the number of people demanding to eat that stuff. It's population that is driving it. And the number of meat eaters. But even if they were vegetarians in those numbers we'd still have the nitrogen issue of fertilizing the oceans with runoff.

Population is driving almost all of our issues today. It gave rise to the big companies that were required in order to make this stuff for a billion people. I fight commercial everywhere I can. But I know that when we have 12 billion on the planet, we will have problems that no one will be able to solve.
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Lorien Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 03:55 PM
Response to Reply #80
84. No carbon footprint? Not so
even local and organic has a carbon footprint. Processing, packaging, and many "organic" farms are anything but.

But yes, meat consumption is second behind population when it comes to climate change and environmental destruction. I don't eat meat and I'll never give birth; why would I want to bring a child into a dying world, anyway?
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Gregorian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 05:25 PM
Response to Reply #84
89. Right on.
I'd love to live in a world of people like you.

I'm less than perfect, by far. But I have sacrificed a lot to try and make this a world that is a better place than the one I was born into.


I'm in the beginning stage of trying to buy an amazing organic farm. I'm dreaming. And I'm praying I end up with it. But we all live in a modern world. Hot water, electricity (even if it's renewable). This farm presently runs diesel for everything. Hardly a way to make a better world.
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Scurrilous Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 01:23 PM
Response to Original message
23. K & R
:thumbsup:
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shanti Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 01:38 PM
Response to Original message
24. same here
i don't watch and have never watched teevee news, especially cable teevee news. all the news i need i get from DU and other online sources.
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fishwax Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 01:41 PM
Response to Original message
25. well, I watch TV news, but I don't think they have any power over me
:)
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IDemo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 02:01 PM
Response to Original message
26. A list of sources from FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting)
Here are some of the websites that FAIR visits most often to keep up with the news. Please note that we don't necessarily endorse the way these sites covers the issues; some of them are worth visiting for their critical perspectives, others simply because the media outlets are particularly influential. Happy browsing!

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=134


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madrchsod Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 02:11 PM
Response to Original message
27. i`ll watch bbc america and that`s about it,
i prefer the overseas news.
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Cleita Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 02:18 PM
Response to Reply #27
30. I watch it too and they do a good job on bringing
us the international news you will hardly ever see on our domestic channels. However, the two anchors Katty Kay and Matt Frei irritate me.
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Cleita Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 02:14 PM
Response to Original message
28. Back in the days before television, yes I'm that old, we
listened to the radio for news. My dad would tune in to the New York news on his shortwave radio when we lived in inaccessible to civilization places in South America. However, there was a need for the visual, which we got at the movies with the Movietone News and others. Also, there was "Life" magazine that brought you pictures of the war, the conventions and other things that were newsworthy. When television became widely available, the TV news filled that need for the visual and they filled it with journalistic integrity for thirty years. Then the change came, the commercialization, tabloidization and finally the propagandization of the news. I still think there is a need for the visual. It seems we need a watchdog agency to make sure it's done with journalistic integrity.
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saras Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 02:15 PM
Response to Original message
29. Good plan
"How about this: FUCK TV NEWS, PERIOD."

That's what I thought back in the seventies when I moved out of my parents' home.

I had already been involved in too many real events where the local newspapers, let alone radio and TV, willfully, intentionally got it wrong.

The last time I fact-checked this decision, I compared recordings of Al Gore speeches to the New York Times' reporting of them. The hell with Wikipedia, this made Uncyclopedia look good.
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backscatter712 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 02:20 PM
Response to Original message
31. Lately, I've taken to watching more foreign news.
BBC, RT, France 24, Al Jazeera, etc.

They're not all owned by corporate right-wing hacks.
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krabigirl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 02:25 PM
Response to Original message
32. +1,000,000. I haven't watched cable news since 2003, with the fake journos cheering for dubya
Edited on Sat Jan-22-11 02:25 PM by krabigirl
And the war in Iraq. I prefer to get my news online..i like the BBC though and PBS, but i don't usually watch tv. I do love Showtime and hbo shows on Netflix, though.

Cable news is tabloid crap IMO.
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Mosby Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 02:27 PM
Response to Original message
33. K and R
I watch tv "news" only for the entertainment value.
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pokerfan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 02:28 PM
Response to Original message
35. Internet is much more immediate
Newsprint tells you what happened yesterday. TV News tells you what happened today. Internet tells you what's happening now.
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DearAbby Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 02:36 PM
Response to Original message
37. We gave up TeeVee
at least over the air TV at the switch to digital, TV pretty much collecting dust if it wasn't for the movies we watch right before going to bed.

News we get completely online. We pick the source and read what we want. I did catch excerpts of Keith and Rachel online. Mostly here. I watch the Young Turks as well.
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progressoid Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 07:17 PM
Response to Original message
38. That's just ridiculous...
How do you find out the important news about Katie Holmes? :shrug:
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donheld Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 10:50 PM
Response to Original message
39. I haven't watched TV News in years either
I think I watched a few minutes of the Haiti earthquake news that was it.
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M155Y_A1CH Donating Member (921 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 10:55 PM
Response to Original message
40. No thanks for me too
I hate the spin with a grin shows.

:kick:
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Generic Other Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-22-11 10:56 PM
Response to Original message
41. I joined you during the Bush years
because I noticed the spike in my blood pressure coincided with my viewing habits.
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AsahinaKimi Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 12:06 AM
Response to Original message
42. I don't have a TV
I have the internet, and its all I will ever need.
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Rex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 12:17 AM
Response to Original message
43. I gave up cable years ago, see it sometimes at friends
I watch TVEE every now and then when someone has a good netflix movie. Never any M$M bullshit news, not for years. Saved my brain a lot of unneeded strain.
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Agony Donating Member (865 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 12:42 AM
Response to Original message
44. Fuck TV News, Period! It's entertainment not news anyway.
Plenty of options The hell with MSNBC-FOX-CNN-CBS-ABC

DemocracyNow.org
therealnews.com
ipsnorthamerica.net
rt.com/usa/
english.aljazeera.com
AFP.com
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moondust Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 12:45 AM
Response to Original message
45. delete
Edited on Sun Jan-23-11 12:58 AM by moondust
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RegieRocker Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 12:48 AM
Response to Original message
46. Gave up on TV news during the Iraq war. The propaganda
was way too much for me.
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tavalon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 12:52 AM
Response to Original message
47. I watched on the intertubz
I haven't had cable or rabbit ears or satellite in over a decade. I don't miss it. But the thing with Olbermann is weird and freaky, nonetheless.
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devilgrrl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 01:00 AM
Response to Original message
50. Say it LOUD!!!
I'm already there!
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jmondine Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 01:02 AM
Response to Original message
51. Methinks I am not the only one imbibing this evening
Not that I disagree with the sentiment at all, mind you. It's just the... colorful directness.

I love you Man!!! :toast:
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tavalon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 01:05 AM
Response to Reply #51
53. Even my husband has a crush on WRP
LOL!

I swear, my hubby is such a lightweight. One bear and he's professing love of ________________! He's so cute.
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ProfessionalLeftist Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 01:39 AM
Response to Original message
54. Turned off my cable TV 10 years ago...
...the lame$tream corporate media has been on steady slide into the shitter since the 1960s.

I watch Democracy Now on the internet. Thom Hartmann and Rachel if I catch her from videos here or elsewhere. That's about it. Reading books and blogs otherwise.
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Major Hogwash Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 01:39 AM
Response to Original message
55. Older people relied on the free 'over the air' news on tv for decades.
That's how we got our information that would help us form our opinions of who to vote for in the next election.
Then came cable.

I don't watch the Cartoon network, but my grandkids do.
I never watched the "West Wing", so I don't know why Lawerence O'Donnell keeps referring to it. Evidently it was pretty good or else he wouldn't be so proud of it.

We already lost the credibility of the New York Times via Judy Miller, et al.
The LA Times wasn't much better with Ron Brown, and some others there.



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Safetykitten Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 01:42 AM
Response to Original message
56. Luddites...fall in and report!
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xiamiam Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 09:16 AM
Response to Original message
57. turn off the tv..its trash and controlling and not even entertainment or informative
Edited on Sun Jan-23-11 09:16 AM by xiamiam
there is quite a bit of resistance to the idea although the entire country would be much better off if we stopped supporting celebrity nit wit pundits..the tv will never be turned on in my home again.i get news online...its been so long that i can see certain patterns..group think...an event will occur..within an hour half of the internet is posting the same response to that event..it is impossible for that to happen naturally. It happens because people are herded into thinking one way..they are told something and they mimic it. It happens here as well. The mass animal deaths is a perfect example. Oh, it happens all the time. Move on nothing to worry about. Well, who said that? Where did that little piece of herding come from..because its not true.
The tv is pure propaganda and a herding tool. Scary. Turn it off and learn to think for yourself.
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Lorien Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 10:42 AM
Response to Reply #57
69. Oh man, I notice that all the time and it's scary as Hell
like this KO thing. It must be all over a few channels because it has become THE issue here. US drones killing hundreds of Pakistani citizens? Yawn. Repugs looking to overturn the clean air act? Whatever man, KO got fired! Why did KO get fired??? OMG, how will we cope without KO! I've lost my friend KO! This is a terrible, terrible day! (Basically the theme of the majority of posts here since Friday). People really have become cattle that are willingly herded by their corporate masters on the TeeVee.
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Beam Me Up Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 10:57 AM
Response to Reply #57
73. EXACTLY! +1
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walldude Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 04:25 PM
Response to Reply #57
88. Really? You can't find anything entertaining on TV?
I too am a big hater of TV. On the other hand I find there is some useful stuff on it and I will keep it. Just like I will keep the internet and going to movies, reading and listening to music. It's not the box that is bad it's the way people use it.



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Lorien Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 09:44 AM
Response to Original message
58. Amen. Fuck TV in general. With all the entertainment options out there, why choose TV?
There hasn't been any real news on television since before the OJ trail. TV is a wasteland and a cynical propaganmda tool. If anyone wants to fix it, we'll have to:

1). The Fairness Doctrine be reinstated

2). That Citizens United be overturned (start by removing the compromised Thomas and Scalia from the SCOTUS).

3). Demand real campaign finance reform.

4). Break up the media monopolies.

That will take some work, so we had better start soon!
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decidedlyso Donating Member (310 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 10:04 AM
Response to Original message
62. I quit watching American tv news more than 20 years ago. The news became
programmed events delivered by bad actors. Even the weather people were suspect. I will look at the Guardian or Al Jazeera occasionally. The latter does a reasonable job of reporting. I read the Olbermann and Maddow comments here. I too am upset about Olbermann's hasty departure, but it was to be expected. Before real change can occur there must be cataclysm. We're one step closer.
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DinahMoeHum Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 10:21 AM
Response to Original message
64. Chatting on DU is much more fun, anyway.
:evilgrin:
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JDPriestly Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 10:34 AM
Response to Original message
65. TV News is how you reach the majority of voters.
We can't dismiss it just because we don't watch it all that much.

If we want to get our message across to voters, if we want to give the hairdressers and waitresses and truck drivers and busy teachers and nurses and doctors and CEOs out there, people who aren't addicted to the internet current affairs blogosphere, then we need TV news. Those people who don't subscribe to newspapers or magazines (other than Sports Illustrated or Better Homes and Gardens) watch TV, and occasionally might catch a fleeting glimpses of Maddow or Olbermann. They often turn on the TV as they get ready to go to work. Those are the people who need solid information and pithy commentary.

Olbermann had the courage to speak out above the crowd. Without his voice, many people would never have heard that the emperor has no clothes. He empowered a whole movement in the media.

Olbermann's exit from MSNBC was ugly and unfair and will hurt America.

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janet118 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 04:05 PM
Response to Reply #65
85. I agree . . . just because we don't watch it . . .
doesn't stop it from affecting the rest of the voting public. I want more alternatives and Olbermann, although not perfect, gave rise to Rachel and Ed and even Lawrence. We need a voice in mass media. Progressive talk radio is not available to me off the Internet or satellite radio. Yet, the right wing talk is all over the air waves.

I don't think it's people like us who need left wing commentary, it's everybody who watches television or listens to radio to find out what's going on. We can tell the truth all we want, but many people - who vote - don't believe it unless it's on tv. Fact of life as it is: If we don't have any outreach to people who don't have the time or access to scour the Web for news, we cannot win any elections. We need more alternatives, not fewer.

I do miss Bill Moyers' voice. Now I will miss Keith Olbermann - a pioneer who spoke out against the Bush administration when it was hard to do.
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JohnyCanuck Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 10:35 AM
Response to Original message
66. And the corporate print media is no great shakes either
The Youtube videos in the link below comprise the expert testimony of William Schaap provided at the 1999 civil trial brought by the King Family against Loyd Jowers and other un-named co-conspirators seeking damages in the wrongful death of Martin Luther King.

In his testimony Schaap detailed how ridiculously easy it was for the CIA and FBI to plant bogus stories in the media using their media "friends", or in the CIA's cases their own employees working under cover in the media, to discredit and destroy the reputation of anyone perceived to be an "enemy of the state".

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=william+schaap+The+Media%2C+CIA%2C+FBI+%26&aq=f

Incidentally, after hearing the evidence, the jury found in favor of the King family and concluded that MLK was assassinated as a result of a conspiracy which included Jowers and agents of the US government. You don't hear that being mentioned too often on TV or in the print media either, do you? Eeach year as the anniversary of MLK's assassination rolls around all you get is the media reinforcing the James Earl Ray as lone nut assassin version of history.
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trud Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 10:41 AM
Response to Original message
67. f tv.
I got rid of mine 1-2 years ago, and don't miss it. Plus I save a noticeable amount a month in cable tv bills.
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rhett o rick Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 10:41 AM
Response to Original message
68. I gave up the tv news years ago. nm
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Lorien Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 10:44 AM
Response to Reply #68
70. ,,,,
:thumbsup:
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Chemical Bill Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 10:51 AM
Response to Original message
71. Hell yeah! n/t
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Beam Me Up Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 10:55 AM
Response to Original message
72. YES!!! FUCK TV NEWS. FUCK TELEVISION PERIOD!!! Rent movies or, better yet...
...just get rid of the damn thing. I haven't owned a TV since 2000 whe they put the chimpanzee in the WH. My life is SO much better. I'm happier, I sleep better, I'm BETTER INFORMED, healthier in body mind and spirit.

GET RID OF TV!
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roody Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 11:00 AM
Response to Original message
74. I've been 10 years without television. I get my news here and
on the radio and online.
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radiclib Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 11:02 AM
Response to Original message
75. Easy for us to say fuck it
Trouble is, the overwhelming majority of 'Murkins get their info almost exclusively off the TeeVee and radio where we're already hopelessly outnumbered.
So this really does suck.
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LTR Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 11:54 AM
Response to Original message
77. Amen, brotha!
Cable news is wack!

I miss the days of actual news reporting, of those CNN reporters hiding under desks during the bombing of Iraq. Now, the news channels have realized it's cheaper to have a Democratic 'strategist' and a Republican 'strategist' scream at each other. Or have some opinionated host that screams at viewers or acts 'holier than thou'. Yes, I'm talking to you Nancy Grace! What a horrible, horrible woman!

CNN, MSNBC, HLN and (especially!) FOX are totally unwatchable. I get most of my news from the internet.
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pscot Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 12:21 PM
Response to Original message
78. Take away their audience
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CBGLuthier Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 12:24 PM
Response to Original message
79. A voice of sanity
Got rid of cable itself half a year ago but had already eliminated the talking heads from my viewing.

Personally, I view O'Reilly and Olbermann and all their ilk as fluffers. They tell people what they love to hear and make them get excited. They are paid to do this. Fluffers.
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pam4water Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 12:30 PM
Response to Original message
81. Well that is nice but we need a function mass media holding the government accountable if we are
Edited on Sun Jan-23-11 12:34 PM by pam4water
to ever get a functioning government back. It is not just about personal feeling. The point is to change stuff not just read about how crappy everything is. Keith had to go because even if it was only nibbling around the edges he was helping get stuff fixed.
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xiamiam Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 01:15 PM
Response to Reply #81
82. we dont have a functioning mass media..we have internet or we would be double doomed
television is a joke..everyone of us needs to be aware of that and share that information so that we just turn it off en masse until we have a legitimate source of news and entertainment..i watch online occasionally but almost always the source directs me to bbc, russia today, al jazeera, etc...forget american news outlets..as phony as walmart...or fast food..thats what we've got ....fast food genetically modified news which is absolute bs..
and while im at it...the preoccupation with violence on tv has contributed to our current violent and gun toting culture

turn it off..it is not healthy or conscious.
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swilton Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 03:30 PM
Response to Original message
83. I'm With You
Get my news through blogs like this, Democracy Now and the Michael Moore website. Too many commercials (about things I don't need and especially health issues and products) and too much inanity on the television....

I would and do love to read and read through the same channels..Having said that, I appreciate the videos posted here and on the other sources.
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whatchamacallit Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 04:07 PM
Response to Original message
86. I simply don't watch it, ever.
Plastic messengers of corporate poison.
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Codeine Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 04:24 PM
Response to Original message
87. The entire combined audience for primetime cable news
is on the order of three to four million on a really good night, that out of a nation of three hundred million+ folks.

This shit just doesn't matter at all.
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xiamiam Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-23-11 10:29 PM
Response to Reply #87
90. amazing..didnt realize so few viewers..that is quite a fact..nt
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