Not amused.

[Undertoad]

X, your words have been making me think a lot these past few days. Thanks.

My main CNN time is between noon and 5pm. From noon to 3, most of it is straightforward reporting of facts. These days, much of it is live coverage of events and press conferences; there is about a half-hour per day of Ari Fleisher. At 3 they do a call-in show called Talk Back Live, which is mostly opinion and it's easy to spot biases in their guests, but that's part of the whole deal. At 4 they do an hour of "regular" newscast, which is not as interesting.

I think I'm "covered" if there is anti Palestinian bias in CNN, because I read robotwisdom.com, which is operated by a hard-core lefty who believes that all Israeli violence is 100% racist and 100% unjustified. And I agree with tw's assertion that Ariel Sharon is a "dichead" (sic), so some if it must have "taken". I don't read robot wisdom because it's anti-Israel; I read it because the guy is a good editor, and since I <i>know</i> his bias, his bias doesn't really exist for me. All I really want is the information he points to, much of it coming from indymedia and other similar sources.

Now, personally, I can always point to major facts and events that are left uncovered by the national media. I promoted Project Censored on the original Cellar incarnations. I also have a pseudo-libertarian viewpoint that doesn't register on the bias map of any major news organization. But after about a decade of working hard to figure out what is news in these broadcasts and what is just crapola, I'm ready to admit that lack of coverage of the news from MY bias is not an atrosity but merely a fact of life.

As far as electronic media being subservient to its master - the advertiser - that's certainly true and I wouldn't say it's not. Chomsky and I will stop short of claiming that the old-style newspaper is NOT subservient to ITS master - print advertising. And furthermore, I'll wager any amount of money that the online versions will outlast the print versions - the cost of which is set by the price of wood pulp. By the way, some huge percentage of the mass in landfills is newsprint, and the disposal cost MUST be part of your calculations. Don't leave it out like everyone else does!

Lastly, just as important as understanding the news is understanding the popular culture. This culture drives what is reported, but it also drives what people feel is important, and thus, what WILL BE news. The people for whom CNN is presented are the masses. Do they care if Ashcroft does a power grab as a part of the war on terrorism? Well, apparently they do. Do they understand that a single school shooting is meaningless in the noise of tens of thousands of schools? No they don't.

You and I know that what O.J. does isn't news even if he kills someone; the resulting hijacking of the legal system may not even be news. But the furor over the case is our popular culture, and that we cannot avoid.