Monday, March 19, 2007
Fox News
I frequently have the opportunity to lecture young people about the television world. Occasionally I make a mistake, but there is no forum in which to retract bad information. This blog will have to do.
My usual opinion about all-news channels on TV is that there is no "main source" anymore. In the 1960s, the only news was Walter Cronkite, which gave him the ability to stop the Vietnam War merely by declaring it unwinnable. We all believed it because he was the only source of news, not counting the two other networks that shared the same worldview. That we later learned the Viet Cong was on the verge of giving up, that we had badly demoralized them with the Tet Offensive, didn't matter (at least until some of us read the memoirs of the VC generals). Having one source of news is great, like only having one clock in your house, because you always know the accurate measure.
I've been telling students that Fox and CNN give people a choice. Conservatives watch Fox and Liberals watch CNN (and the 3 main networks plus MS-NBC). If people want the facts to match their prejudices, they can find a mainstream source of news to watch.
Last week I learned that the audience for Fox News is only 38% conservative. That means 62% of its viewers do not consider themselves to be conservatives. What is more amazing is that CNN's viewership is sufficiently smaller than Fox's that Fox News actually has more non-conservative viewers than CNN does.
So when I've told students that Fox News is just for conservatives, I was wrong. Not that other professors won't keep telling their students about how only conservatives are watching Fox News.
My usual opinion about all-news channels on TV is that there is no "main source" anymore. In the 1960s, the only news was Walter Cronkite, which gave him the ability to stop the Vietnam War merely by declaring it unwinnable. We all believed it because he was the only source of news, not counting the two other networks that shared the same worldview. That we later learned the Viet Cong was on the verge of giving up, that we had badly demoralized them with the Tet Offensive, didn't matter (at least until some of us read the memoirs of the VC generals). Having one source of news is great, like only having one clock in your house, because you always know the accurate measure.
I've been telling students that Fox and CNN give people a choice. Conservatives watch Fox and Liberals watch CNN (and the 3 main networks plus MS-NBC). If people want the facts to match their prejudices, they can find a mainstream source of news to watch.
Last week I learned that the audience for Fox News is only 38% conservative. That means 62% of its viewers do not consider themselves to be conservatives. What is more amazing is that CNN's viewership is sufficiently smaller than Fox's that Fox News actually has more non-conservative viewers than CNN does.
So when I've told students that Fox News is just for conservatives, I was wrong. Not that other professors won't keep telling their students about how only conservatives are watching Fox News.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
How to ruin a hit show
7 years ago I might be writing about ABC's show Who Wants to be a Millionaire? -- and how they weakened it by overexposing it, and then killed it by changing the type of contestant to celebrities.
Today I write about Deal or No Deal which is very compelling TV and not quite as overexposed (but getting there). What happened to the average Joe contestant? Lately there has been a parade of strange participants, not entirely unlike the old studio audience for Let's Make a Deal.
I like DOND but I don't like the casting. Howie Mandel is unexpectedly perfect and the briefcase girls are fun to watch, usually. But the contestants are getting weirder by the day.
P.S. I wish the briefcase girls (oops, briefcase women) would open the case and react, without peeking first and then opening. Because it spoils the suspense to see their expression first, especially when they occasionally try to fool us.
Today I write about Deal or No Deal which is very compelling TV and not quite as overexposed (but getting there). What happened to the average Joe contestant? Lately there has been a parade of strange participants, not entirely unlike the old studio audience for Let's Make a Deal.
I like DOND but I don't like the casting. Howie Mandel is unexpectedly perfect and the briefcase girls are fun to watch, usually. But the contestants are getting weirder by the day.
P.S. I wish the briefcase girls (oops, briefcase women) would open the case and react, without peeking first and then opening. Because it spoils the suspense to see their expression first, especially when they occasionally try to fool us.
Psych
Is it just me, or is this show on USA Network the most cloying show ever?
