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Newstainment: Cable News Goes for the Oomph |
| Section: THE ARTS / TELEVISION |
| Author: Richard Breye |
| Publication:
The World & I Online |
| Issue Date: 4/1/2003 |
| Size: 2,155 Words, 12,747 Characters |
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The challenge for the news networks is to balance the public desire for information with a tendency for excessiveness.
--Associated Press
In addition to changing the viewing habits of many Americans, the cable networks are also altering the definition of news, blurring that once clear line between entertainment and news. In the old days, journalists reported on the economy, war, and peace. Today, it's about which bachelor was booted by the bachelorette on ABC's current "reality" series, a popular George Bush windup toy, and who's wearing what and why at the Golden Globes.
In 1980, Ted Turner launched the Cable News Network, which, by the end of the decade, had changed the way many Americans and others across the globe got their news. At the very least, CNN has changed the way viewers get the news when there's a disaster. The explosion of the space shuttle Challenger in 1986 and the Gulf War in 1991 put CNN's twenty-four-hour cable news on the map. Today CNN is in 86 million U.S. homes and is available to one billion viewers worldwide. More importantly, televisions in newsrooms, diners, bars, school cafeterias, and airports are turned on to CNN or its first and second cousins: CNN's Headline News, Fox News, MSNBC, and CNBC.
These twenty-four-ho...
Read Full Article
...s on the scene. As important as the events in the Persian Gulf may be, they should not take all of our attention. We still need to keep an eye on the economy, health care, the environment, civil liberties, Latin America, Africa, and the other stories that affect our futures. We need a worldview that is not oversimplified, a worldview that reflects what we all know--that there are many big stories.
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Publication Details
(The World & I Online) |
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The World & I Online is a
comprehensive academic resource that encompasses a broad range of
articles by scholars and experts in the areas of Global Studies,
Liberal Arts, Fine & Applied Arts, General Science, and Spanish.
Originally published monthly in print as The World & I, our site
includes the complete contents since 1986 and continues to publish
a new issue online each month. |
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