“Heh, don’t blame me, I’m not even the messenger anymore!”
OK, this is getting ridiculous. I’ve gotten “Breaking News Alerts” from CNN for a long long time, and sometimes they have been useful. But increasingly I’m just getting junk in my inbox in the name of “breaking news,” and this is a typical example (rec’d about 4 pm eastern).
Grammy-winning singer Whitney Houston has filed for divorce from husband Bobby Brown, her publicist tells The Associated Press.
That’s it. The sum total of what they felt was worthy of an e-mail alert. This is what CNN regards as hard news??? It might pay CNN to reflect on Ted Turner’s original vision. This is what he said about a year ago:
“I wanted to be the New York Times of the airway — not the New York Post, but the New York Times — and that’s what we set out to do, and we did it,” he said, referring to the tabloid.
“In 20 short years, by all the surveys, we became the world’s most respected news source. The New York Times had been there for 100 years. We did it in 20,” Turner said.
“And you can coast on that reputation for a long time but if you’re going to hold that position, which I think would be the most profitable position, too, you have to earn it.”
Yes, this goes to almost every news source, “breaking news” is frequently just “broken olds”, neither immediate nor news.
– This Just In – Breaking News found to be broken. Film at 11.
To the inbred, poorly-educated American masses, this is important news. The major news media are just giving them what they want to read.
Yahoo, MSN, etc. all have sent out what many may be considered dubious news.
… but you have to remember, just because it’s breaking news… it does not have to be important breaking news.
Entertainment news, interest stories about famous / infamous people has a market, as does the world cup. Personally, I care the same about the winner of the world cup as I do about Whitney.
A lot of junk comes through but every now and then, something important shows up… like the announcement of new iPod color.
Either way, inbred, poorly-educated people also need a reason to constantly check their blackberrys as well.
Seems to me Ted is right on. CNN is as liberal as the New York Times and nobody wants their news from either.
When Michael Jackson was on trial I got a ton of those “breaking news” messages. Meantime some more important stuff (well to non-pedophiles anyway) was ignored.
If I could figure out how to unsubscribe….
Meantime the fool cellphone is about 30 characters short of actually seeing the whole message. The “Whitney Houston” post got to “Bobby”…. Lots of useless header data though….
Kinda like my wife – the least important things get priority….
Regards
I stopped my Yahoo! mobile alerts for the same reason. I wanted to be notified of major breaking news events. But I guess their motto is “when in drought, send it out”. I only requested breaking news, but I was getting sporting event news (which pissed me off because I tivo them), entertainment news, and other non-critical news. Tsunami, yes. Whitney Houston, no f* way.
#5 – Seems to me Ted is right on. CNN is as liberal as the New York Times and nobody wants their news from either.
Comment by Bob — 9/13/2006 @ 3:25 pm
I want news from them. At least, I want it from the Times… CNN is gonna have to work harder for my eyes. They aren’t liberal. Anyone who thinks so isn’t watching. Or, like most who use the word liberal as a slur, they don’t know what liberal is. They are just a corporate news repeater, and regularly drop to their knees to service the President and their corporate masters.
Edward R Murrow is what a newsman should be… Why did that mold have to get broken?
I received the same lame alert. It would have been breaking news if Whitney would have given Bobby his walking papers years ago.
Part of the problem is the American cult of the personality.
The other part of the problem comes from a lack of understanding of what really comprises news. When I was a reporter at United Press International when it was a real news service, breaking news (u. priority) was reserved for incoming missiles, presidential assassinations and whatever junta was having a revolution in South America that week.
There is really only one wire service remaining news service, the AP. When UPI went through its second bankruptcy in 1990, the other guys knew they wouldn’t have to rush after scoops. So we get Bobby and Whitney in the last quarrel.
Some TV stations file breaking news alerts so you will remember who they are. Here in Florida, a pile up on that parking lot known as I-4 rates as breaking news.
What about the lact of fact-checking? Here is a good title for your next blog:
FACT-CHECKING IS “ALIVE” AND WELL IN MAINSTREAM MEDIA … OOPS! I MEANT TO SAY “DEAD”: Remember that game we played in grammar school? The teacher would whisper something in the ear of the student in the front row and then that student would whisper it to the next and so on. The student at the end of the row would then blurt out some ridiculous statement that no one could understand. Well, the media must have been sick that day because there was a lesson to be learned. And that lesson was …. The media is useless and employed by a bunch of lazy morons. I guess they didn’t learn from their “Bush Won”/”Gore Won” fiasco or the 13 dead/alive coal miners. Yeah, you got your story out first, but is it correct?
“Breaking news”, “Going out of business”, “Free”, “Sex”… all catch words– but they get us all the time.
I hope to see Dvorak Uncensored one day as the world’s most respected news source. No, no I don’t.
From today’s quote of the day:
People everywhere confuse what they read in newspapers with news.
– AJ Liebling
CNN is as liberal as the New York Times and nobody wants their news from either.
Right on, brother. They’ll be going out of business any day now for lack of readers/viewers.
Not.
Oh, you meant “nobody I hang out with“, didn’t you?
The solution is simple. Quit your subscription don’t go to CNN. Look for a news site that you feel covers the issues that are important.
Like most news sites they rely heavily on people looking at their pages for revenue. If you quit your subscription and quit going to the site your essentially voting your dollar.
If you do find a site that’s worthy of your time. Pass it on.
I still fail to see why anyone would need news more than twice a day.
#16 —
Because maybe they are a news junkies. Maybe they see the value in being informed. Who knows?
I still fail to see why anyone gives a rat’s ass about sports. Unless you are in the game, or sell jerseys, what difference could that possibly make? But hey… someone cares and who am I to stand in their way?
I used to be more of a news junkie than I am now. I started to ween myself from news when I got divorced and never replaced my TV. So I am one of 4% of Americans without a TV… and I’m happier for it. I do miss having the C-Span channels, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, Bloomberg, etc…
Even that was growing less satisfying though. MSNBC presents a fairly balanced report, but not a complete report. These agencies are too selective. I never knew this until a few days ago, but apparently Canadian military forces are involved in some pretty intense action in Afganistan. Until recently, had US news been my only source, I would have guessed we weren’t even in Afganistan anymore. And when MSNBC does “fake news” news that really just spotlights NBC reality show offerings, I get grumpy.
…but I read more news in print and online, listen to BBC Worldnews, etc., though not as constantly… But yeah, I understand wanting news all the time.
What I don’t get is wanting entertainment news or sports news or simple headlines. I like depth and I like relevance. That’s why I never used to watch local news or showbiz shows, etc.
I keep Google News Headlines for my home page. So when I open up my browser, I can spend the first few minutes perusing the headlines for anything of interest. Before I click on a link, however, I will look to see how moderate or realistic is the source site. Given the choice, I will check out the story from NY Times, Washington Post, Toronto Star, Times on Line, Reuters, BBC, and the like. I will avoid site I know to be slanted such as the Washington Times, NY Post, or anything from China.