What passes for 'news'

[Bold Believer]

NBC's Today made a more or less passing comment that 15% of Americans are now on food stamps. I note this because they devoted more time to covering Michelle's dress. ABC's Good Morning America regaled us with the fact that more college aged females are getting breast enlargements.

Does anyone recall true TV news? You know, when they actually told us something of substance. When commentators were men of knowledge, reasonably respectable? When their voices were comforting and not annoying? When the news really was fair and balanced?

[Sevenseas]

Well, I'm a little young to remember all of it, but I do remember when the news made a shift to creative journalism as opposed

to factual journalism

I actually remember being annoyed at all the 'what do YOU the viewer think? ' questions...and so it went

Maybe it was an attempt to engage the audience and keep the news relevant and personal, but it seems to have developed

into 'tell them what they want to hear and the more you say it, the closer to the truth it gets even if it started out as an

exaggeration or downright lie

Good Morning America, take a deep breath, is a joke IMO...I don't think it's really news? Do you think it's really news? I don't think

it's really news...

I'm not American as I have now pointed out in several threads (oh no blew my cover) and I have just responded to one person

who thought it odd I should have an opinion on which party should win...gadzooks! So even though Americans want the world

to listen, some of you seem to think we should SHUT UP and listen...well it doesn't work that way

I'm not trying to be smart or anti-American..I have also pointed out that I am married to a Yank, so I can't be all that down on the red, white and blue

OK...I'm getting off topic..went into a rant....sorry

Back to the news....I think it is filtered, audited, sifted and then carefully, so as not to disturb the brutal facts, portrayed in the light of keeping

people in the dark, dumbed down and generally ig a nor ant

But that may just be me

[OneLight]

I remember when the news was unbiased as much as it could be, where the commentators were not allowed to voice their opinion, just facts. Much has changed since the 50's.

[joi]

You mean like Lowell Thomas and John Cameron Swayze?

I like hearing the facts and coming to conclusions on my own.

[Rascus]

I guess that it all boils down to who is in control of the news media.....and I feel certain that we all know that its not ABC, Fox, CNN and etcs.....You never really see the truth in the news any longer....oh it may be truth but for sure if the powers that be dont want the people knowing something you just wont see it on the news....thats just the way it is anymore When I want the news that our media wont publish I go to alternative news sources....you may not get all of what you seek but you will find some of yours answers there. For instance a month so ago I read in an alternative news outlet about all the millions of rounds of hollow point ammuniton that was being purchased by FEMA, the Social Security Admiistration and others.....and just yesterday a story about it hit the CNN network....so why the month or so delay in reporting the story? Better yet why do these organizations need all this ammo....people need to wake up and seek out God for His answers and for His plans....in His love......Rascus

Rascus

Edited September 6, 2012 by Rascus

[SavedByGrace1980]

NBC's Today made a more or less passing comment that 15% of Americans are now on food stamps. I note this because they devoted more time to covering Michelle's dress. ABC's Good Morning America regaled us with the fact that more college aged females are getting breast enlargements.

Does anyone recall true TV news? You know, when they actually told us something of substance. When commentators were men of knowledge, reasonably respectable? When their voices were comforting and not annoying? When the news really was fair and balanced?

As much as I dislike the current state of TV news, I think we have to be careful to not look at the past through rose-colored glasses.

I grew up in the 60s - when there was just the 3 major networks. You had Huntley/Brinkley on NBC; Watler Cronkite on CBS, and usually ABC was a distant third with Howard K. Smith.

Cronkite was the most watched, and at the time he was referred to as "Uncle Walter" - the most trusted man in America. It wasn't until later - after his retirement and shortly before his death - that we learned how truly far left he was.

You have to understand that the bias wasn't as blatant - you didn't have a Chris Matthews telling us about a thrill running up his leg at the mere sight of Obama - but it was there just the same. It was subtle.

The Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War is a good example. Many historians now look back on that and say the US and SVN forces actually prevailed. But you wouldn't have known that at the time.

Shortly after that, Cronkite let his guard down and CBS did a hit piece (which aired on Cronkite's evening news) suggesting Tet had been a defeat.

LBJ supposedly said, at the time, "well, if I've lost Cronkite, I've lost the war."

Going back even further than that - you had the Hearst owned and influenced papers (itching for a "good war" which would sell papers) basically starting the Spanish/American War in 1898. (Remember the Maine!).

What we have now with all the different "news" channels is information overload. You're right - there's very little "hard" news.

But maybe there never was.

Blessings!

-Ed

[Fez]

I think to a large degree what they show as news might be directed by ratings, and if that is the case they are only showing what the majority of people are willing to watch and digest?

Do you think we have "dumbed" down as to what we collectively want to watch?

[Guest]

IMO As The Spokesmen For This Nation Go With Shifting Their Speech

From The Fear Of The Mighty LORD Jesus Christ

To The Pleasing Of Man

To execute judgment upon all,

and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed,

and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts;

and their mouth speaketh great swelling words,

having men's persons in admiration

because of advantage. Jude 1:15-16

Many News Services Are Continuing With Their Decent From The Reporting Of Just The Facts

To Using "Fact Checking" As A Reason For Propagandizing

Thus Turning Most Reporters Into Man Pleasers

And Common Gossips

Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness:

but a faithful man who can find? Proverbs 20:6

And So The Stench Of Our Sins Continues

It's Ascend To Heaven

There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin.

For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.

My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness.

I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly;

I go mourning all the day long. Psalms 38:3-6

And The Light Continues To Shine

What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light:

and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.

And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul:

but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Matthew 10:27-28

And Shine

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world:

he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness,

but shall have the light of life. John 8:12

~

Just My Take On The Temporary State Of The Union

For all the gods of the nations are idols:

but the LORD made the heavens. Psalms 96:5

And The Hope Of The Nations

The LORD is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.

The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. For the needy shall not alway be forgotten:

the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever.

Arise, O LORD; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in thy sight.

Put them in fear, O LORD: that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah. Psalms 9:16-20

And Beloved Israel

And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far,

and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth:

and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly: Isaiah 5:26

Love, Joe

[amor]

I remember when the news was unbiased as much as it could be, where the commentators were not allowed to voice their opinion, just facts. Much has changed since the 50's.

From what I've seen an read Ed Morrow seemed to take a fairly opinionated approach to US TV broadcasting during that epoch, something that helped bring down the execrable Senator Mccarthy.

See It Now focused on a number of controversial issues in the 1950s, but it is best remembered as the show that criticized McCarthyism and the Red Scare, contributing if not leading to the political downfall of Senator Joseph McCarthy.

On March 9, 1954, Murrow, Friendly, and their news team produced a half-hour See It Now special entitled "A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy".^[10] Murrow used excerpts from McCarthy's own speeches and proclamations to criticize the senator and point out episodes where he had contradicted himself. Murrow and Friendly paid for their own newspaper advertisement for the program; they were not allowed to use CBS's money for the publicity campaign or even use the CBS logo.

Nevertheless, the broadcast contributed to a nationwide backlash against McCarthy and is seen as a turning point in the history of television. It provoked tens of thousands of letters, telegrams, and phone calls to CBS headquarters, running 15 to 1 in favor.^{[citation needed]} In a retrospective produced for Biography, Friendly noted how truck drivers pulled up to Murrow on the street in subsequent days and shouted "Good show, Ed. Good show, Ed."

Murrow offered McCarthy a chance to appear on See It Now to respond to the criticism. McCarthy accepted the invitation and made his appearance three weeks later,^[11] but his rebuttal served only to further decrease his already fading popularity.^[12]

In the program following McCarthy's appearance, Murrow commented that the senator had "made no reference to any statements of fact that we made" and contested the personal attacks made by "the junior senator from Wisconsin" against himself.^[13]

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_R._Murrow}

[OneLight]

I remember when the news was unbiased as much as it could be, where the commentators were not allowed to voice their opinion, just facts. Much has changed since the 50's.

From what I've seen an read Ed Morrow seemed to take a fairly opinionated approach to US TV broadcasting during that epoch, something that helped bring down the execrable Senator Mccarthy.

See It Now focused on a number of controversial issues in the 1950s, but it is best remembered as the show that criticized McCarthyism and the Red Scare, contributing if not leading to the political downfall of Senator Joseph McCarthy.

On March 9, 1954, Murrow, Friendly, and their news team produced a half-hour See It Now special entitled "A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy".^[10] Murrow used excerpts from McCarthy's own speeches and proclamations to criticize the senator and point out episodes where he had contradicted himself. Murrow and Friendly paid for their own newspaper advertisement for the program; they were not allowed to use CBS's money for the publicity campaign or even use the CBS logo.

Nevertheless, the broadcast contributed to a nationwide backlash against McCarthy and is seen as a turning point in the history of television. It provoked tens of thousands of letters, telegrams, and phone calls to CBS headquarters, running 15 to 1 in favor.^{[citation needed]} In a retrospective produced for Biography, Friendly noted how truck drivers pulled up to Murrow on the street in subsequent days and shouted "Good show, Ed. Good show, Ed."

Murrow offered McCarthy a chance to appear on See It Now to respond to the criticism. McCarthy accepted the invitation and made his appearance three weeks later,^[11] but his rebuttal served only to further decrease his already fading popularity.^[12]

In the program following McCarthy's appearance, Murrow commented that the senator had "made no reference to any statements of fact that we made" and contested the personal attacks made by "the junior senator from Wisconsin" against himself.^[13]

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_R._Murrow}

Amor, you can't take an incident here and there and make it sound like it was the norm. I grew up in the 50's and remember the type of news my parents watched every night.