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Originally Posted by Cynthetiq
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News broadcasting, and American political debate, was much healthier from 1949 to 1987 than it has been from 1987 to 2009. I'd be perfectly fine with a return to the fairness doctrine.
Fox News Channel (not to be confused with your local Fox affiliate's nightly news program) is infotainment at its worst. That's not to say that CNN and MSNBC aren't also infotainment, and all three of them do more harm than good in terms of news broadcasting, but Fox News Channel does tend to be the most ideological and most actively distorts the news. MSNBC is getting there though: Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow are one thing (and I like them from time to time, but it's important to recognize what they are and what they are not), but now they've got Ed Schultz, Tamron Hall, David Shuster, etc. The problem with both Fox News Channel and MSNBC (again, Fox News Channel moreso, but MSNBC is not innocent) is that they too easily mix editorial with news reporting. CNN's problem, on the other hand, is that they're just shitty at what they do.
I turn on 24 hour news channels occasionally when I'm looking to kill some time and get a basic idea of what's going on for the day, but I get most of my news from public radio, the newspaper, and a few topical blogs.