Posted on 08/23/2005 5:58:14 PM PDT by wagglebee
CNN President Jonathan Klein implies ratings news leader FOXNEWS is mired in coverage of "meaningless nonsense," claiming: "Fourteen Americans dead, and they have Natalee Holloway on," Klein says. "And they're supposedly America's news channel."
"It's easy and it's brainless," Klein charges in a telephone interview set for publication at the NEW YORK TIMES, explaining why cable news outlets had gravitated to the Aruba story. "They're looking for an ongoing drama" along the lines of the NBC crime show "Law & Order," he said, adding, "Except 'Law & Order' doesn't do the same plot every night."
"There are an awful lot of things you can cover if you don't have people tied up with this meaningless nonsense," Klein says.
In early July, Klein pulled CNN's correspondent out of Aruba and dropped the subject from most CNN shows in the absence of new developments.
"If Jon performed as well as he talks, he wouldn't have to explain his network's dismal ratings," says Irena Briganti, a spokeswoman for FOXNEWS. "We have trounced him on every breaking news story from the London bombings and last week's events in Gaza."
Impacting...
You would probably agree that's the easy way out? And that it may be exactly the same reason the MSM generally spews their nonsense dressed up as news? Easy pickins'.
JMO, but I think your position is short sighted at best and you are likely in a small minority even on this forum. The fact that "all Natalee all the time" captures high ratings only tells part of the story I suspect. Besides, doesn't Murdoch have other outlets for tabloid teevee? Or maybe he might be interested in changing the name of his "news" channel to something more appropriate like, FoxEnquirerChannel.
I feel the same way several others have remarked on this thread, Fox captured their audience, now they're backing away from the ones that brung 'em to the dance.
FGS
That's my two cents. Thank you.
You say that as if it were a recent development. It's held a lead for some time now by appealing to the masses. You ever watched the Fox Report? It's like America's Funniest Home Videos, without the home videos.
Oh, OK... thanks for that info. :o)
Thanks, SevenofNine. A couple of other FReepers mentioned the same. Wow, Linda Vester will be gone from FNC for an entire year?
Ok, he has a point. It maybe pot calling kettle black, but he does make a good point here.
Yep. Except for Neil Cavuto's and Brit Hume's programs, the whole network is now pretty much a crapfest IMHO. That hyperactive tabloid twit Shepard "Doofus" Smith epitomizes the whole mess.
Quick! Somebody call the WAAAAAAAAmbulance!
He's right on this. FoxNews is beginning to suck. Greta and Aruba is as bad as Cosby was with Laci Peterson. It sucks...... and is a HUGE WASTE of time!
Right!
****
ROFL. Right on. It's pathetic that Greta (and Vanity) have been wasting so much time on that Aruba drama. Let us know when the court case starts and ends.
For a change, how about a story on the illegal Federal Income Tax or The Federal Reserve (that is as "federal" as Federal Express). Those are ongiong mysteries and dramas!
Right on ................ Groom Overboard.
;-)
LOL. The lawn mower sounds like a bargain compared to her breathy over-affected voice.
;-)
Vester is on Maternity Leave, I think.
I agree. CNN is also tabloid TV. For real news, I now switch to CNN Headline News.
"ROFL. Right on. It's pathetic that Greta (and Vanity) have been wasting so much time on that Aruba drama. Let us know when the court case starts and ends."
You are missing the point here, IMHO. Actually Greta's Aruba coverage (as on other shows on Fox, as well as on Joe Scarborough's show on MSNBC), is an attempt to help a woman whose daughter was undoubtedly murdered on a foreign island, by keeping it in the news, as the Aruban gov't has botched (in fact IMO covered up) the investigation. The minute she loses her attempts to keep the case alive in the news (and Natalee's mother is very clever at keeping this in the news), then she leaves the island with the murder unsolved, and the murderer (the Dutch boy) will go free. FOX (as well as Joe S.) are helping her on what might be a hopeless quest, as the Aruban legal system really sucks, and her daughter's murder may never be resolved. I give the highest kudu's to this mother who fights like a she-cat to find her daughter's killer(s). What fortitude, what dedication to the memory of her daughter. The whole family is fighting for Natalee's return, one way or the other.
If this was your daughter, what would you do. Would you not try to keep it in the news (lucky for the mom, FOX and Joe S. have come to the mom's aid), or would you slink home, minus your daughter for the rest of your life. I think what FOX is doing is admirable. I'm sure they know this story has been overworked and that their audience is tired of the subject. But there is still a dead girl whose murder needs solving, in a foreign country that just wants the case to go away, so that they can release the politically connected Dutch Boy, to go merrily on his way while Natalee lies moldering under the ground, or as fish food in the sea. Just try putting yourself even in only one of her mom's shoes; would you not want the media as your one ally and would you not be pleased that they would be willing to help you? FOX is helping Natalee's mother because she needs the help.
My guess is most mishaps in foreign lands seldom get resolved, but maybe after others see how Natalee's mom Beth has fought in her daughter's name, they might do the same if presented with similar circumstances in a foreign land, themselves. As it is, I no longer want to go to a foreign land again, but it may be coming to us due to our lack of border security and bad immigration policies. But that's another subject.
CNN????? What's that?
Beth is a wonderful, very strong woman, but this Aruba coverage is doing little if any good at all for her. It is a supreme waste of millions of viewers' time.
Fox captured the audience. But they are still rising in the ratings race ... even with Natalee.
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