There is no more news. There’s infotainment and speculation and opinion and lots of made-up shit all masquerading as “news,” but make no mistake, the news has been canceled.
Today’s “news” casts on TV are anything but the objective, fact-based reports on the day’s events they used to be. A Washington Post obituary of “60 Minutes” Creator Don Hewitt gets to the reason that the actual news can no longer be found on your television set:
“60 Minutes” creator Don Hewitt, 86, who transformed television journalism by showing that news programs could generate money, and who helped make TV an essential part of politics when he produced and directed the first televised debate between U.S. presidential candidates, died Aug. 19 at his home in Bridgehampton, N.Y.
And thus, network news divisions were rolled into network entertainment divisions, and the news – as Walter Cronkite delivered it – became obsolete.
So today, we have hours upon hours of speculation about what happened to the missing Malaysia Airlines jet, yet not a word about the “Better Off Budget” released by the Congressional Progressive Caucus on Wednesday.
There was a lot of banter about Dianne Feinstein’s outrage over allegedly having the Senate Intelligence Committee’s computers at the CIA hacked by the CIA – but I wonder whether or not those same infotainment shows will actually pick up Jason Leopold‘s Al Jazeera article “Revealed: Inside the Senate report on CIA interrogations” – written with real journalistic acumen by a real investigative journalist – complete with new information that tells us CIA interrogations used some “techniques” (read: torture) that were not legally authorized. Real news! And I’m betting you’ll hear nothing about it from your favorite network or cable “news” show.
Instead, you’ll get more of this:
Note that Jason Leopold was on my show this morning. If you want more of his real news, regularly check out these links:
- JasonLeopold.com
- Jason’s work at Al Jazeera America
- Jason’s work at Vice (Jason’t report on Gitmo report on hunger strikers without the term hunger strike)
- Jason’s work at Beacon Reader
My friend @GottaLaff who runs The Political Carnival is also fed up with the lack of real news. She let loose on MSNBC, where the incestuous nature of the shows, hosts and “contributors” is almost creepy…
Gotta vent. Here’s my (satirical) take on MSNBC daytime:
MSNBC Host 1: So welcome to my very own show. So, today’s guests are Goldie Taylor, Howard Fineman, David Corn, Joan Walsh, Michael Steele, Jonathan Alter, Michael Eric Dyson, Nicolle Wallace, Mark Halperin, Michael Isikoff, Jonathan Capehart, Kasie Hunt, Eugene Robinson, Ezra Klein, Dave Weigel, Steve Schmidt, and all my fellow MSNBC hosts who are all here to talk about their very own shows! Every single one of them. So have I told you guys what a great job you do? GOD you’re good. You all excel at your jobs! To call you stellar doesn’t do you justice! I’m so proud to call you “colleagues.”
Chuck Todd, Steve Kornacki, Alex Wagner, Chris Hayes, Joy Reid, Ronan Farrow, Krystal Ball, Karen Finney, Melissa Harris-Perry, Ari Melber: So, thank you, my friend! So, congratulations to us! So, group hug to Camera Three!
MSNBC Host 2: So when we return, we’ll explore why every MSNBC commentator begins each thought with, “So…” We’ll be back in 15 minutes after these messages from Cialis, Cymbalta, Lipitor, Abilify, Celebrex, Humira, Nasonex, and Lyrica.
Chuck Todd, Steve Kornacki, Alex Wagner, Chris Hayes, Joy Reid, Ronan Farrow, Krystal Ball, Karen Finney, Melissa Harris-Perry, Ari Melber: So you forgot AT&T, BP, Exxon, Citibank, catheters, vaginal dryness meds, and Christian Mingle!
Follow the link to read the whole thing! But that’s not all. She also points out that Tweety Chris Matthews is clueless. But you already knew that!
Seriously.. where’s Uncle Walter when we need him?
