Is CNN-terism Dead in America?
“Part of CNN’s problem is that Fox News and MSNBC cater to the right and the left, respectively, cultivating faithful fans. There aren’t major earthquakes every day, but Sean Hannity and Keith Olbermann can produce temblors on demand. . . . [P]assionate intensity sells on cable. A small partisan base is enough for big ratings; the mildly interested middle might rather watch Grey’s Anatomy.“But CNN also suffers from being a mainstream institution at a time when mainstream authority is in crisis. CNN’s problem is the problem of the New York Times, the banks, the government and climate science. If you are an institution or ‘expert,’ especially one claiming impartiality—like TIME and other newsmagazines, whose obituaries people have been writing for decades—you are suspect.”
Illustration by Francisco Caceres for TIME
Editor’s Note: No room for the sane middle.Best comments on yesterday’s WORD: Dinosaur Tech
• “I love books! I love newspapers! Is it a generational thing? I get sick of reading things online. I subscribe to magazines and newspapers as a means of getting the information I want without having to look at a screen. Probably everything I subscribe to is available on-line, but it’s just not the same. I like paper to hold in my hands, to underline and highlight and earmark pages. You gotta love it, baby.”—Katie
• “But you can throw a cat at an iPad.”—Will
Today’s PeezPix: Kane’s Preferred
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Eerily true.
ReplyDeleteWho thought that 16 years of higher education, in my case, probably a similar amount in your case, and in the case of our many colleagues, in an out of academia, would turn out to be a thing of suspicion and derision in the America of 2010.
Being informed (an expert, alleged or otherwise) takes a back seat to those many tin-pot radio and cable hosts who stumbled into the money pot of right-wing politics after failing again and again in the now-lamented world of actual accomplishment.
In today’s Kafka-esque environment, Alice’s rabbit hole makes perfect sense.
Cheers,
Dan