I Need a Conservative Television News Network

New Media Journal ^ | 3-17-06 | Edward Daley - Media Commentary

[smoothsailing]

I Need a Conservative Television News Network

Edward Daley

March 17, 2006  

Every morning I log onto the worldwide web, not because I'm a computer geek, but because I want to understand what's going on in the world. I've long since turned my back on the print media for accurate and timely news reporting, and it's getting to the point where I can't even bring myself to watch a televised news broadcasts anymore, simply because tv networks can't seem to report on much of anything these days without insulting my intelligence with some sort of politically correct blather.

I also tune into various talk radio programs throughout the day, because the conservative hosts which dominate the AM dial usually manage to unearth interesting news articles that I just can't find anywhere else, and they are the best in the business at researching the facts behind the stories they cover, affording me a better perspective on the news than I would otherwise have.

Yet, while the internet is a tremendous vehicle for gathering raw information, and AM radio hosts often exhibit a dogged determination to be accurate in their reporting, when they're not smacking me upside the head with their opinions, what I really long for is a responsible news agency that combines the informational aspects of the net with the intellectual honesty and fearlessness of conservative radio, while also affording me enlightening video footage of current events.

But does such an entity exist? Any honest examination of the various tv networks in this country will reveal that it does not, which is why I am calling for the creation of a truly Conservative television news network. Oh sure, I know that the "mainstream" media likes to point to Fox News as a haven for right-wing extremist talking points, but to its liberal puppeteers any journalistic entity that doesn't spend most of its time advancing the left's agenda is both right-wing and extreme.

While Fox is indeed considerably less prone to infusing its news coverage with the sort of left-wing propagandist rhetoric that its television counterparts use to distort the important events of the day, it is still far from conservative in nature. Calling the Fox News Network right-wing simply because it's not as overtly liberal as CBS or MSNBC, is sort of like suggesting that a Golden Retriever is actually a house cat because it's not as vicious and obtuse as most Rottweilers or Chows.

Perhaps I'm just paranoid, but every time I attempt to watch the news on tv, regardless of what channel it's tuned to, I get the distinct impression that someone's trying to distort my perception of the world. Then again, as a wise man once told me, it ain't paranoia if they really are out to get you, and being as I'm not prone to embracing unjustified conspiracy theories, I'm left to conclude that today's television news establishment is as riddled with the same incompetence and venality that it always was.

And so...

I need a television news network that'll avoid using politically correct terms like "undocumented workers" when the subject is illegal aliens, "Islamic militants" when it's reporting on the barbaric acts of Muslim terrorists, and "domestic spying" when the topic of the NSA's signals intelligence program is raised.

I need a television news network that doesn't omit pertinent facts from a story because the people in charge are worried that the truth may alienate or offend me in some way.

I need a television news networks that will hire reporters who will stick to "just the facts", and not waste my time with endless speculation as to why something has happened, and what may happen next as a result of it.

I need a television news network that will exhibit a righteous disrespect for the "mainstream" news media, and devote an appropriate amount of its broadcasting time to the repudiation of false claims made by other news agencies.

I need a television news network that doesn't slip misleading statements like "after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks... Muslims were often targeted for violence" (1) into its war-related news coverage, for no apparent reason other than to insinuate that Americans are prone to the same sort of religious-based, reactionary violence that the citizens of many Middle Eastern countries regularly engage in.

I need a television news network that doesn't try to make me feel guilty for being an American.

I need a television news network that won't shy away from using words like evil, anti-American, and treasonous to describe certain people, when those adjectives are clearly called for.

I need a television news network that doesn't lend the same weight to the assertions of communist-sponsored anti-war activists that it does to those of American military commanders in the field.

I need a television news network that will ignore the antics of pathetic nitwits like Cindy Sheehan, and instead tell me who in our government decided not to throw Sandy Berger in jail for admittedly stealing top secret documents from our National Archives.

I need a television news network that doesn't simply admit its past mistakes, but announces them at the start of every applicable broadcast, assigning them the same level of importance as any top news story.

I need a television network that'll remind us again and again that New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin is a despicable racist, and that George W. Bush isn't.

I need a television news network that puts the best interests of America first when it comes to international affairs reporting, and doesn't behave as if the unwritten rules of respectable journalism prohibit it from being patriotic.

I need a television news network that will report the positive aspects of the war MORE than it reports the negative aspects, since there are more positive than negative events occurring on a regular basis.

I need a television news network that won't mistake political poll results for actual news.

I need a television news network that spends the majority of its time investigating news stories, instead of worrying about things like Nielsen ratings, public perception, or political backlash.

I need a television news network that won't spend three hours explaining to me what it interprets to be the subtle nuances of the forty-five minute political speech I just watched, as if I'm too stupid to understand what the words "the Social Security system... on its current path, is headed toward bankruptcy" (2) really mean.

I need a television news network that's willing to hire some ugly people to report the news, primarily because too many pretty reporters these days couldn't find sand in Southern California.

I need a television news network that doesn't give a damn what other networks are reporting at any given time.

I need a television news network that exhibits a basic understanding of why capitalism is the best economic system thus far devised by mankind, and refuses to promote the notion that socialism and massive government control over private business is in any way a credible alternative to the supply-and-demand-based theory upon which the most resilient economic power on earth has been built.

I need a television news network that is willing to spotlight, at least once a day, an act of heroism by an American citizen somewhere in the world, be that act war-related or not, because America's young people, now more than ever, need champions to look up to who aren't just sports figures.

I need a television news network that will never, EVER make excuses for the likes of Dan Rather, regardless of how many years the arrogant prick has held sway over a nightly news broadcast.

In essence...

I need a television news network that's more competent and truthful than it is "fair and balanced", (3) and anyone who can't appreciate that deserves to be misinformed. If fairness is what you're after, I suggest you go play checkers with your grandmother, and when you feel the need for balance in your life, try ordering a salad with your dinner.

[smoothsailing]

In all seriousness,He's fine.He's done great work for the conservative movement,IMO.The man deserves credit.

I wonder,though,if he hasn't overextended himself.

I rarely hear him on the radio anymore,but at night he seems to be using the same old talking points.

[Herford Turley]

They play him here after Rush and after about an hour or so, I switch it back to FM and to my favorite radio station.

By then, I'm usually headed down to the unemployment office to cover my job search for another week. :-)

[smoothsailing]

I'm the same.But I do like cold beer and baseball,and football,and...:)

[smoothsailing]

Exactly. I saw part of that,then turned it off and came back here.

[Herford Turley]

Baseball season. It's time. I had to put up with the Olympics. Now it's time to get down to an American sport. Baseball and a cold beer is a good idea.

[smoothsailing]

ARRR!!!

HA! I'm outta here,HT! Great chatting. G'Night!

[Emmet Fitzhume]

I know.

Today at the cafeteria, three TVs were on. One in the far left (ironically) was on CNN International, the one in the middle was on ESPN and the one on the right was on Fox News.

I ate my lunch to Fox News Dayside, and it was an upbeat program where the hosts and guests wore green to celebrate Saint Paddy's Day. They also interviewed guests in the audience (who are US Veterans), online military commanders, and discussed the importance of Operation Swarmer.

I suspsect that CNN's programming was concerned more with the "terrible suffering that the US invasion has wrought upon the Iraqi people."

Honestly, it is simply disgusting and demoralizing to see CNN's morbid and misleading programming.

I prefer something honest, upbeat and refreshing while I eat my lunch; This is why I prefer Conservative programming.

[Moshikashitara]

Coming soon!

"FRC" -- The Free Republic Channel

Contact your cable or satelite provider [today]!

Do you think they need a newswriter or anchor? I'd be glad to send in an application! ;-D

~Moshi-chan

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

I saw that when I did the search before posting.It was posted Thursday morning around 11:30 so it was seen by the day crowd.

i figured it was worth another spin around the block for us night folks who missed it.

It's really up to the mods,it's there call.
:)

No skin off my nose, except that I already commented on this article, and if the "night folks" only see the new posting they will miss my wisdom and not know it.

Living Free in NH wrote:

I don't want "conservative" news. I want the friggin' news, not cheerleading. If the conservatives screw up, I want to hear about it.

And I replied,

The trouble with wanting "the news" is that the story selection criteria which make "the news" interesting and therefore make a news outlet profitable are inherently anticonservative:

• If it bleeds, it leads. And [if it bleeds] it also inherently insinuates that the powers-that-be ought to have prevented it.

• "Man Bites Dog" rather than "Dog Bites Man" makes news stories unrepresentative of what usually happens.

• "Always make your deadline" (the print version of 'the show must go on') makes journalism superficial.

First reports are usually wrong. Instead of focusing on the latest news, focus on reliable (i.e., proven track record) commentary. And that will direct you to a conservative editorial page such as that of The Wall Street Journal. And also to a web site known as FreeRepublic.com. Better yet, read a book.

If you want to know what is going on, "the news" is a distraction. The conservative thing to do is simply to discount the news.

Why Broadcast Journalism is
Unnecessary and Illegitimate

[Caipirabob]

How conservatives will see a conservative news network and how liberals will report it:

[cbkaty]

Do we really need an American Al Jazeera....?

[smoothsailing]

Thanks,cIc,appreciate the post!

I liked Edward Daley's final line in the article.His take on Fox was if you want fair,play checkers with you grandmother,if you want balance,have a salad with your dinner.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

If fairness is what you're after, I suggest you go play checkers with your grandmother, and when you feel the need for balance in your life, try ordering a salad with your dinner.

That I can agree with wholeheartedly; the problem of story selection (most events are not reported at all, a few are printed in the body of the paper, and very little makes the front page above the fold - and all protestations to the contrary notwithstanding, human beings decide which is which) assures that "fair and balanced news" is in the eye of the beholder.

. . . I need a television news network that's more competent and truthful than it is "fair and balanced", (3) and anyone who can't appreciate that deserves to be misinformed.

Here is where I have a problem; a journalist may competently do his story selection according to given criteria, but those criteria impose a perspective on his product which no amount of truthfulness will alter.

The standard criteria of journalism, such as "'Man Bites Dog' rather than 'Dog Bites Man'," "If it bleeds, it leads," and the implicit criterion of "You can't report what you don't know yet" (Duh!) and "Always insinuate your superior objectivity and virtue as compared to the subject you are writing about" impose a leftist slant on the news. A slant which can only be openly acknowledged and discussed in opinionated discussion in which the participants are selected with a view toward "balance" and "fairness." Or, better yet, in openly conservative (as a leftist would have it) commentary to balance the leftward slant which inheres in superficial, negative, arrogant "straight news" reporting due, fundamenatally, to the need to attract an audience.

[E.G.C.]

BTTT

[justshutupandtakeit]

I don't mind that all the time but Hannity cannot think on his feet and starts to just repeat his talking points even when they are not relevant to the point.

[justshutupandtakeit]

It is Distraction News news which distracts from and obscures the real issues.