Quote:
Originally Posted by Humpy Leftnut
So I had a thought. If the US government just did things and didn't have CNN streaming constant propaganda into hundreds of millions of homes to "paint the background" for their moves, they'd look a lot crazier. Obviously CNN is a huge tool for them, without a doubt, no matter how you look at it.
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CNN is more than capable of producing "normal" programming - they already do this with with the international edition and already have a number of good journalists on staff or under contract.
It's hard to say, but may be other factors than playing the party line. The US region is probably influenced more by external and commercial factors where they have to appeal to advertisers for revenue. Who are these advertisers? Pharma corps (and others) who have a target of having 80% of the population on a cocktail of drugs - and not the 50%+ as it is now. Pharma corps have one of the largest groups of lobbyists in the country. These are predatory corps and rarely have the interests of the general public in mind. This is probably one of the more transparent examples of how news broadcasting can be deviated to the level of "This week's top box office movies".
CNN also have a problem - they have to appeal to as many "heads" as possible to satisfy advertisers. So, you can see a trailer of what was a serious attempt at a documentary, but it is them dramatised with appropriate Hollywood-style voiceovers to increase the public "voyeur-appeal". (Damn - it's almost like GFY
) You can see exactly the same documentary in other countries - and it's totally "straight" without the high drama.
Many commerical news orgs are struggling economically - others are funded by external methods and there is more chance of getting balanced news reporting from the latter.
If anything, CNN is a commercial success story, but that comes at a cost on several levels and, only my
, but think the balance and quality of programming has reached very low levels. When that happens, the cred goes out the window - but, folks used to that level, may or may not realise it.