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World News

N

Neel

I know this gets a lot of discussion, but the news reporting is getting worse and worse. I don't understand why we can't have one channel or network that reports a variety of world news. I tried to watch CNN, but all they talk about the the budget deficit, gays in military, and Afghanistan for world news. I have seen very little on the Mumbai attacks, South Sudan independence or Somali refugee crisis. I get AlJazeera for 30 mins once every night and I can catch some of it. I'm sure there's some people that still care about what's going on besides in America. So frustrating that we can't get decent news anymore.
 
Many PBS stations use MHz WorldView on one of their subchannels or in off-prime hours. WorldView packages various international broadcasters into one channel.

There is also CNN International, but its cable carriage seems to be limited.
 
Neel Mehta said:
I know this gets a lot of discussion, but the news reporting is getting worse and worse. I don't understand why we can't have one channel or network that reports a variety of world news. I tried to watch CNN, but all they talk about the the budget deficit, gays in military, and Afghanistan for world news. I have seen very little on the Mumbai attacks, South Sudan independence or Somali refugee crisis. I get AlJazeera for 30 mins once every night and I can catch some of it. I'm sure there's some people that still care about what's going on besides in America. So frustrating that we can't get decent news anymore.
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Although I don't agree with their respective political agendas, I have to say that Al Jazeera (English) and RT spend a lot more time on international news that any of our "news" providers even dream of doing. And, to be honest, there was more reporting about the events which you listed on Galavision (which rebroadcasts Televisa's Mexican newscasts) than anything you see here. In fact, a lot more information was given by Televisa than by anyone in the US. Only catch is that it was all in Spanish.

Let's face it, our country has too few people who are interested in global news/events and too many who are interested in news only if it takes on the characteristics of a reality show. Let's look at the Casey Anthony debacle (and you KNEW I was going there). Live coverage of the verdict on all of the cable newsers and it's the lead on the network nightly newscasts. It leads most local newscasts as well. Why? It's a fairly run-of-the-mill homicide case in Florida, which is a state with one of the highest murder rates in the U.S. Yet here it is - the major story. How does this happen?

Well, it's because the case took on a 'reality show' quality with courtroom battles show on live TV, and interesting characters. And, it brought in the viewers - especially females. Viewers who don't normally follow news. So, news channels are following the viewers. Which is why - and this is sad - we end up with such miserable international coverage of news events. Too many of our fellow ADD-addled Americans find it "boring". You know, things like details just don't have any sex appeal. Most Americans haven't a clue about what is going on in the rest of the world. Sadly, most don't much care either.

What you see on our news channels reflects what our culture has become.
 
I've taken to watching at least half an hour, but usually a full hour, of Al Jazeera per day, because there's really nothing of value on newscasts that are traditionally available in the US. I put up a free-to-air satellite dish to get it, and there's really very little fluff on it. I get a lot more good information out of it relative to the time I spend watching it, versus time spent watching a national evening newscast or something like that.

BRNout, your last long paragraph reminds me of something my roommate told me. I used to watch the Newshour with Jim Lehrer on a pretty regular basis before college took up so much time I couldn't dedicate an hour to it every night, and I actually got my roommate into it. One evening he was with his girlfriend and he started watching it. About 10 minutes in, she said to him, "This is so boring!" And he rightly replied, "the news isn't supposed to be interesting, it's supposed to be informative." I think it backs up your point pretty well.

(If you're wondering, I'm now graduated and can spend my time watching TV news without issue.)

- Trip
 
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