You need to quit getting your news on Facebook. Right now. I mean it. There you are, madly clicking stories shared by your friends, who probably tend to think like you. On top of that, Facebook tends to note what kind of stuff you like and show you more of the same, so even if […]
The real fake news? Surrogates on the cable networks!
By Carl Carter, APR Fake news just created a brouhaha with our oldest and most loyal ally. It started Tuesday on Fox, with opinion panelist Andrew Napolitano saying President Obama had used the British equivalent of the NSA to spy on Trump tower so there would be no record of it in American agencies. The President […]
After election traffic evaporates, media face big trouble
It’s been quite a party, but the hangover is going to be a real doozie. Americans obsessed with the unpredictable election news have been gobbling up news in almost any format. And that has been masking the troubles facing our media. On the surface, the cable networks have been on a real tear. MSNBC had […]
Flying Blind: We lost our news coverage, and it’s worse than you think
Some of us have been writing and talking about the decline in news media for years, but a lot of people have joined the conversation late. So let’s step back a bit and see the big picture. Our news coverage at all levels is a shadow of its former self. All over the country, we have […]
Update: ESPN without cable is real and it’s here
I suggested back in November that the Cable TV industry could be in for some major changes, especially if Disney (which owns ESPN) ever decided to allow the sale of ESPN apart from a cable “bundle.” At the same time — in part to make a point — I “cut the cord” myself, putting digital antennas […]
ESPN’s finally available to non-cable subscribers. Now what?
We finally got it – mostly. ESPN finally agreed to sell its service directly to customers without requiring them to buy a huge cable bundle. What we have now, through SlingTV, is a much smaller $20 bundle that includes ESPN, ESPN2, CNN, Food Network, TNT, TBS, HGTV, Travel and ABC Family. Is $20 a fair […]
How to know more in less time
There’s so much stuff coming at us, from so many directions, that we can’t possibly sort it all out. So here are some ways you can make better use of your time, stay informed and avoid misinformation. Read your news rather than watch it. We can read much faster than we can watch TV, and […]
The best way to follow the real news of the Boston Marathon bombing
We all want to know who planted the bombs, and why, and how, and what the authorities are doing to find them. But we don’t. This is the paradox of cable news. The nonstop coverage of big events gives the illusion that there is a river of information. There isn’t. To carry out the water […]
Fox: No responsibility to get it right
My chief criticism of cable coverage of breaking news is that the pressure to get it on the air immediately makes it impossible to check “facts” for accuracy, completeness, relevance and fairness. Both CNN had on-air talent reading the first page of a voluminous Supreme Court ruling on an issue with enormous stakes. In both […]
The whole sequences of CNN, Fox bungling the health care ruling
Painful as it is to watch, cable coverage of the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Affordable Care Act serves as the perfect object lesson in the hazards of reporting (and getting) news unfiltered, moment by moment. In both clips you can see the networks’ on-air talent began to report the second they were handed the […]