I know that Fox and NBC want to make money but goddamn does this just show how little people care about what’s actually going on in the world, they just want their own opinions validated by someone ‘in the know’. I’ve respected Olbermann’s reporting in the past, but I’d never consider him as a sole source of what’s going on in the world.
And never mind O’Reilly. 
I only watch Olbermann or O’Reilly for entertainment. Both of them only have insignificant issues to report on anyway (the clothing issue, the Griffin issue) while ignoring the policies of both candidates so it’s not like anything new is happening - most of America still votes on liking or not liking the candidate, not on their policies (present company excepted, of course, lulz). Their shows make money on blasting candidates on minor things that have no consequence whatsoever on administrative policies, so if one’s not intelligent enough to recognize these things as unimportant, one’s not intelligent enough to go seek out other sources for valid reasons for voting one way or another.
I was in Tulsa a few months back and was struck by how a) there are exactly three talk radio stations, and b) they’re all unabashed Republican mouthpieces (to the point where they use “us” and “them” to refer to Republicans and Democrats, respectively). Here in Toronto there’s nothing remotely like that; talk radio stations may lean a little bit to either side but won’t barefacedly shill for one way or the other.
I was also struck by the fact that during the time I was there (this was during the Obama/Clinton war) I never heard a single talk show talk about anything but politics. No current events, no local news, no general issues. Just politics.
I just don’t watch American news stations period. I think they’re ALL far too focused on ratings and making a production than providing actual news. They never spend much time on anything and instead comment on the bare basics of a story before moving on to the next before they risk their audience losing interest.
It may not be much better up here, but at least I don’t feel like I’m getting dumber by watching the Canadian news networks.
This quote is pretty much a very good summary of what is going on in the US:
“The two men survey the McCain-Obama competition from opposite mountaintops, as kings of cable’s opinion class. They’re the beneficiaries of an increased desire by news viewers to follow stories through their own ideological filters.”
People don’t like to be told what’s going on, they like to be told what they want to hear of what is going on. Don’t blame the American companies for giving people what they want. I do agree its fucking horrifying.
I’m with Spoony on this. I absolutely refuse to watch news on the television. I get my news from NPR and the BBC, usually. Though they each have their biases, I tend to trust them more then anything that gets on television.