Tag Archives: scorecard

The 100-Day Nonsense: Too Much Opinion, Not Enough News

By Jim Selman | Bio

I admit I am not a fan of television in general and the broadcast news media in particular. However, I found myself spending some time in bed this week after some minor surgery and cruising the tube for something to watch. I was amazed at how many channels are now dedicated to around-the-clock news. I landed on CNN and was ‘blitzed’ with a super fancy build-up to "The Presidential Scorecard: The First 100 Days". This is obviously choreographed by the same people who can make war sound like a college football game and almost anything ordinary sound significant–unfortunately so much so that it is hard to distinguish what really is significant.

With today’s technology, we can all ‘vote’ on whatever the media is commenting on and have our opinions added to the tally. This is, of course, just the latest in the media’s attempt to engage viewers in a never-ending commentary about whatever is going on. I think this phenomenon is further evidence of our becoming a spectator society.

Surfing channels, I found that all the programs now have panels of folks who give their opinion about whatever item

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