[Tacis]

The old time TV "news" (non-cable) ISN'T NEWS! No only is what they present biased to the left, there is damn little information or "news." Tiem it! The national "news" is only about 18 minutes. Then, subtract the human interest stories or reports that "push" somes sponsor's medications and there isn't much left. Even CNN does a better job of infoming. ABCCBSNBC will tell you what's wrong with what Bush did today but little else. In fact, I often watch the news on a Spanish language station. I don't understand too much but the coverage is much, much broader. Even watching the BBC on PBS provides a much broader scope.

Here's an exercise. Take a piece of paper and a subwatch. Time every segment on the old-timey "news" and list the subject. Then, count the number of segments that are really "news," that is, something they could have brodcast any day and it wouldn't have made a difference, and add up the time for those segments. If you get 10 minutes a day, I'd be surprised. What passes as "national news" on the dying outlets is nothing but cheap content for some high priced advertising.

Again, even CNN provides much more information on a much more timely basis.

[baseball_fan]

"What passes as "national news" on the dying outlets is nothing but cheap content for some high priced advertising."

Agree with much here. However, the number of people watching the Evening News still dwarfs the Cable News and with it draws away the revenues needed to fund an international news gathering capability it would seem.

EVENING NEWS (Week of February 7, 2005)

Total Viewers Adults 25-54
ABC 10,150,000 2.8/10
NBC 10,210,000 2.7/10
CBS 7,520,000 2.1/7

Source: http://allyourtv.com/latestratings/index.php?cat=4