Rhetorica: Press-Politics Journal

August 11, 2003

Serious oxymoron…

Jim Ruttenberg, of The New York Times, asks: “Has the nation’s television audience burned out on serious news”? Is serious news something a television audience expects to find?

Posted by acline | August 11, 2003 | Posted in: Main | Comments (8)

8 Responses

  1. Rebecca  August 11th, 2003 at 1:17 pm

    I thought you were giving up snarkiness.

  2. acline  August 11th, 2003 at 1:31 pm

    I can’t endure the pain of going cold turkey. So, I settle for moderation. :-)

  3. JSteele  August 11th, 2003 at 2:42 pm

    Ignoring your snark-fest for a moment, why is it The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer is rarely included in the television news category? It’s news and it’s on television, and it also happens to be “serious”. To be sure, among TV journalists, isn’t Lehrer one of the more respected?

    I can’t think of a single instance where i’ve seen guests (or the moderator) shouting at each other on The NewsHour. (Needless to say, I’ve never seen Ann Coulter on the show!)

    I don’t have access to Nielson numbers — I wonder how large the audience is for The NewsHour?

  4. acline  August 11th, 2003 at 3:18 pm

    J- That’s a good question. I wonder if the public funding of PBS has something to do with it. Or, perhaps, the numbers are so low no one considers it worth considering. I agree that News Hour is among the finest of TV’s efforts.

  5. Rebecca  August 11th, 2003 at 4:34 pm

    I know this will be met with cries of Boo!!Hiss!!, but Fox News Sunday is one of only two TV shows I consistently watch. The reason: Balance – a typical panel consists of Juan Williams and Mara Liasson (NPR), Bill Kristol (Weekly Standard), Brit Hume (Fox News) with Tony Snow as moderator. These people are well spoken, intelligent and never shout at each other in spite of deep ideological differences, in fact, they seem to actually like each other. They don’t allow liberal/conservatives to shout at each other either. Last week (I think, maybe week before) they had a pro-gay marriage person and an anti-gay marriage person on, but not together. First the one gave her point of view, then when that was over, the other gave his – there was no shouting or talking over each other. Both sides get to say their bit without interruption or derision. As for TVnews generally, I haven’t seen a national news cast since sometime during the Clinton Administration – and I didn’t even like Bill Clinton!(Exceptions being 9/11, Iraq War, etc.)

  6. acline  August 11th, 2003 at 4:47 pm

    Rebecca…I’ve never watched FOX News Sunday. But, after your description, I’ll certainly take a look. One thing I’ll be interested to see: To what extent is the discussion framed by one side or another?

  7. JSteele  August 11th, 2003 at 6:19 pm

    Boo!! Hiss!!

    I haven’t seen FOX News Sunday either, but will give it a roll this weekend.

    Dr. Cline: Can we look forward to your analysis next Monday?

  8. acline  August 11th, 2003 at 7:44 pm

    J- Ah, man…don’t put me on the spot like that! :-) Okay, I’ll catch it on Sunday and give my FWIW on Monday. I can tell you right now I’ll be paying careful attention to how questions/issues are framed.