Posted on 11/04/2007 4:29:38 AM PST by BigAlPro
Is it just me or are we all getting pretty tired of FNC’s abuse of “Breaking News” and “News Alerts”? It amazes me that you can’t watch one day’s worth of programming on America’s “fair and balanced” network without being assaulted by these false overtures. The producers at the FNC must think we are the dumbest viewers in the history of television news.
The recent fires in Southern California provided almost every anchor on Fox with the opportunity to over-dramatize the events of the day. I’ve never seen so many “Breaking News” reports on one story in my life. And it wasn’t as if they were actually reporting on something that hadn’t been covered all day long or even a significant change to what had already been reported. Everything was just “breaking”.
In order for news to be breaking, it is supposed to interrupt the regularly scheduled programming. That is why breaking news used to always be preceded with phrases like, “We interrupt your regularly scheduled program to bring you this special report”. Likewise, breaking news was always followed by the announcement, “We now return you to your regularly scheduled program.”
Hannity & Colmes are pretty much tied with Greta for being the worst when it comes to “News Alerts”. They flash that notice on the screen and start telling us all about some trivial story Shepard Smith “broke” six to seven hours earlier that same day. What is so alerting about a story that has been covered by every other anchor on your network?
When it comes to being overly dramatic, you can’t help but love Shepard Smith and Geraldo Rivera. However, the top Drama Queen of them all has to be John Gibson.
How is it possible to open your show with “Breaking News”? How do you head into a commercial break by saying, “When we come back, we’ll have Breaking News on today’s top story”? How do you have breaking news in the beginning, middle and end of a news program? How is anything “Brittney” breaking? Do they not understand the simple concept of “Breaking”?
As if all this weren’t bad enough, the FNC has become the king of speculation TV. When your interview includes questions like, “What do you think she meant by…” or “What is going through his mind right now…” you are no longer reporting, you are speculating. What could a retired Jersey trooper possibly know about a carjacker in California? If he’s not a psychic, he’s just another spectator and his input is nothing but conjecture.
Now, I don’t get CNN and I wouldn’t watch MSNBC if you paid me. For all I know, they may be just as bad as my beloved Fox. However, if someone doesn’t step up and do something about the over-dramatization of network news, I am going to have to turn off my TV and rely solely on the Internet for my daily news.
What is it going to take to bring some integrity to the cable news networks? Maybe we should get Bill O’Reilly to lead a boycott against all network news until they get their act together, quit speculating and stop abusing the once sacred “Breaking News”.
I pretty much stopped watching news on TV, now its almost alway the internet just because I deplore these people and their antics of glory, and I doubt it will get any better.
Shouldn’t this have been posted in Breaking News??
Me thinks they does protest too much.
I still want the WHOOOOOSH! DONNNNNGGG! as a ringtone.
Yeah, it really irks me when it is a News Alert, and the subject is Britany Spears or Paris Hilton.
Too many women as well... all emotion-over-content reporting.
>>>>Is it just me or are we all getting pretty tired of FNC’s abuse of “Breaking News” and “News Alerts”?
We can send FNC a few of FR’s admin moderators! :)
Last I saw, training consults were getting paid $60,000 for seminar classes. I don’t think the mods would mined a few of those nickels.
Just wake up, Rip Van Winkle?
All blond all the time....they are “blowing” it....
At the AP we had several levels of news alerts.
Normal (Missing woman still missing) was 2 bells on the printer.
Urgent (Missing woman found) was 3 bells.
Bulletin (Missing woman hijacks plane) was 4 bells.
Flash (Missing woman assassinates president) was five bells.
I think Fox should institute a similar scale for their news alerts.
Why do you think they call it “Fox” news?
plus they DO overuse the breaking news alert. you can tell how much i have fox on at my house since i know all this stuff.
i just can't stand the lack of professionalism that went out the door with kieran chetry, who had the ability to be cheerful, amused and professional at the same time.
The guy writing this must have seen the October cable news ratings.
it is the constant force-feeding of “celebrity” news that is driving me from TV news - regardless of network.
I’m surprised you have just found this to be a problem or an issue. It has driven me crazy for at least a year.
The women are bad, but the worst is Shep Smith.
This person's living in the 70's; at least that is the last time I heard this phrase. We now have 24-hour news channels. They don't interrupt anything, anymore. Thus, "breaking news" would be just that, news that is breaking right now.
The guy writing this must have seen the October cable news ratings.I didn't. How is Fox doing?
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