Originally Posted by djplong

Responding to Allen's point about 'both sides', I agree. But I don't really watch the visual media for news. In my browser, you'll find a "News" folder with links to:

Boston Globe - liberal
Boston Herald - conservative
Montreal Gazette - Middle of the road by Canadian standards
Nashua Telegraph - somewhat liberal
Manchester Union Leader - Uber-conservative
USA Today - sometimes seems to depend on the whim of the editor
MSNBC.COM - Well-indexed page

In addition I have highly customized Yahoo and Google News pages and a page full of RSS feeds on my phone.

I *do* get both sides of the story. Fox, CNN and MSNBC are atrocious for actually reporting news. They make what we used to call "scratching the surface" look like deep investigative journalism. Fox's slant is WAY over to the right. MSNBC seems a bit quieter about it but it's definitely to the left. CNN, on the other hand, has gone from being THE source for news to being THE place that does little more than ask it's viewers to comment on everything. These people constantly cut away from stories ("We have to leave it right there" is all to common) as if they were editing an MTV video. Oh, I forgot. MTV, Music Television, doesn't show music anymore. Fox/CNN/MSNBC seem to forget they are *24/7* channels and they DO have the time to get deep into a story.

It's shocked me to find just about the only source of DEEP reporting is, and I can't believe I'm saying this, Dan Rather. He'll spend up to an HOUR on a SINGLE story on HDNet's "Dan Rather Reports".

Unfortunately, today's visual media news is the equivalent of the carny barkers on the midway, screaming for your attention for a moment or two...