Is MSNBC the best cable news network? Is CNN the worst?

by Chris Bowers, Tue Aug 24, 2004 at 10:13:37 AM EDT

Last night when I went to CNN.com and saw that something about Amber Frey was the top story, I seriously wondered to myself if CNN might just be worse than Fox. Atrios argues that CNN is at least much worse than MSNBC: CNN's a joke in your town.

It is really true. MSNBC has become a better news operation during the day. MSNBC.com has always been pretty good. The evening lineup is pretty much six of one, half a dozen on the other. On CNN you have Anderson Cooper (good, but too frivolous), Paula Zahn (atrocious), Larry King (horrible), and Aaron Brown (whatever good is demolished by his smugness). And, on MSNBC you have Hardball (horrible with an occasional ray of truth shining through), Olbermann (pretty good), Norville (okay), and Scarborough which is so bad it's probably, in the net, good.

Atrios isn't the only one noticing this either, as the RNC may have begun to blackball Hardball. Could the network that hired Mike Savage and fired Phil Donahue (at the time MSNBC's highest rated anchor) in a span of one month really have turned a corner and become the most palatable of the cable news networks? Also, is CNN (not CNN international, the CNN you get herein America) really worse than Fox?

I do not have answers or arguments of my own at this point, but I have written the question in the form of a front-page poll.

Tags: Media (all tags)

  • 4 Comments
  • 0 recs
  • Share
  • Permalink

Comments

4 Comments

Shadow_head_small
Best of the worst.
It's a dubious distinction to be "the best cable news network," given that they're all crap.  I'm still waiting for GoreTV.
by Drew 2004-08-24 11:07AM | 0 recs
Shadow_head_small
Re: Best of the worst.
You got that right.
by clawed 2004-08-24 11:42AM | 0 recs
Shadow_head_small
CNN
For some reason I was not able to take the poll, but I think it is amazing how bad CNN has become. I have stopped watching all of them because it makes me so angry. Fox is certainly the most openly biased in favor of the Repugs, but I think a case can be made for CNN being worse than Fox because it has a pretense of objectivity that hides a bias every bit as bad as Fox. I really don't know if it is genuine bias or a feeling that this kind of biased reporting will bring them the popularity of Fox or if it is a giving in to the intimidation that the Bush administration certainly uses, but whatever it is it has turned them into a completely disreputable organization. I do think that MSNBC is the best of a bad lot.
by herodotus 2004-08-24 11:18AM | 0 recs
Shadow_head_small
Re: CNN
Something weird is going on with your user info. I hope I didn't screw anything up. I'll look into this.
by Chris Bowers 2004-08-24 12:56PM | 0 recs

Diaries

Advertise Blogads


----------- myDD - skin -----------