So, I have a question for you, CNN.
When did the news become 24 hour coverage of one story?
Lately it seems that if there is going to be a snowstorm, CNN will spend seven straight days looking at radar, talking to local people (“Well, yes, Anderson, it does kinda suck to be neck deep in the white stuff.”), and breathlessly analyzing wind speeds. Its as if the entire world comes to a screeching halt at the threat of some bad weather.
And if there is a major news event, you can forget about everything else for a week, even the weather! No mere storm could hold CNN’s attention once Mr. Putin marched into Ukraine. For days on end, no matter when I turned on the TV (and as an insomniac, believe me, I watch at some very weird times), the entire network was focused on Ukrainian history, Ukrainian politics, Ukrainian songs, Ukrainian artists. We saw endless footage of people singing folk songs in the square in Kiev. We heard from every retired military expert that Ted Turner could drag out of mothballs. CNN was breathlessly warning us about the “powderkeg” that threatened us all, reminding us over and over that the Boston Marathon bombers were from that general part of the world. Sort of. Roughly. Keeping us glued to our sets with whispers of possible terrorist threats arising from the Russian annexation of the Crimea.
Never mind the fact that three days earlier, virtually no one in the US could have even found the Crimean Peninsula on a map. It was all Ukraine, all day, every minute of every hour.
Until the giant plane fell out of the sky.
Now, it would seem, all is well in the Crimea and peace once again reigns. I have been watching CNN in mesmerized fascination, wondering where all those semi-disguised Russian soldiers have suddenly gone. The headlines, the top stories and the newscasts that have followed are all about the missing jet. No Russians, no threats, no singing Ukrainian nationalists. No terrorists.
Unless you count the ones that CNN is convinced have brought down the plane.
What a strange phenomenon!
Empty Nest, Full Life 
If you go to MSNBC, you can spend all your time on Bridgegate (a story I can’t get enough of, actually). I loved the NYT piece on Christie today showing what a huge (literally and figuratively) phony he is, even by the standards of NJ politics. His fake outrage at the size of the proposed toll increase, when he was the one who demanded their proposing an outrageous increase so he could take credit for “negotiating” a smaller one.
CNN is just desperately casting about for something, anything that will give them ratings.
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I just sometimes want to know……the news. Like what are the big events happening around the whole globe? Luckily, I can read it on line!
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I rely on the Internet for that stuff. I watch MSNBC for fun and Fox to drive myself crazy.
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News used to be newsworthy and informative. Now it’s just another TV show with personalities doing schtick trying to get ratings. Why do I have to see 12 different “reporters” standing in the snow to let me know that it is snowing where they are and then go back to the studio to analyze what they just said? I agree with you. Only one thing happens every day. The war in Afghanistan has been raging for 14 years. I think it had its day on the news 12 years ago! They’d better find that plane before Justin Bieber does something stupid again!
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“They’d better find that plane before Justin Bieber does something stupid again!” Truly! Too funny.
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Momshieb: You hit the nail right on the head. I consume a lot of news to stay informed for my blog but I’m telling you, it is beginning to wear me out! (What happened to Syria, by the way?) News is entertainment. I’ve had to stop watching a lot of it. I do an overview of the major news outlets online, and then I shut it all down. The constant bombardment and pollution of it all was beginning to wear on my nerves. And don’t even get me started on the Justin Bieber stories. Yikes!
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Really!!! I think that we are all responsible for having ruined that poor kid, and now we all want to salivate over how awful and ungrounded he is. Really?????
I get my news from online sources, and none of them are the big outlets. Still so frustrating to see the nonsense that is sold as news!
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It is sooooooooo annoying! I am particularly sick of hearing about when anybody in the Christy Administration farted!
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Ach, me, too!!
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CNN recently changed their policy to focus more on just the big story, to the exclusion of all others.
I’m sure they’re glad you’ve noticed!
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Grrrr…..I’ve noticed so well that I get my news from Democracy Now.
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Lack of diversity… Shame, shame… They’re not the only ones guilty of this social crime.
❤ Carsla
Founder & CEO of Connect-the-Cloths
http://www.connect-the-cloths.com
http://blogspotter.co/connect-the-cloths/
A stylist, foodie, & writer's blog in development.
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For TV news I can get BBC with my cable package. Otherwise I read the NY Times and the Guardian online. I get so frustrated with the TV reporters sensationalizing trivialities or over reporting the “big” stories. I want the news, not speculation. Your post nailed it.
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I am truly laughing out loud right now. CNN has talked about four different theories of what happened to the missing flight (“It blew up!”, “There was terrorism!”, “It was a catastrophic failure of the plane!”, “It was hijacked and its in Pakistan!”) I watched for almost an hour: not one other story appeared.
You watch: Putin is going to crash a plane. He can’t stand the fact that he is out of the limelight.
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