Demagogue

Ted Turner, founder of CNN, has some advice for the network on their 25th anniversary.

"I would like to see us to return to a little more international coverage on the domestic feed and a little more environmental coverage, and, maybe, maybe a little less of the pervert of the day...You know, we have a lot of perverts on today, and I know that, but is that really news? I mean, come on. I guess you've got to cover Michael Jackson, but not three stories about perversion that we do every day as well...I wanted to be The New York Times of the airwaves. Not the New York Post, but The New York Times."

Sadly, the story also mentions that CNN is the second most popular news network, right after FoxNews.

Am I crazy to think there are a lot of people out there who don't want to know anything about the Michael Jackson trial and would rather get more news that actually matters?

I wish CNN would try an experiment, just for a few weeks, and commit itself to being a real news channel. A place for all the stories that the networks ignore because they think the public would rather hear about Paris Hilton. A network where one could hear about the daily doings in congress as well as coverage of Darfur. They could bring in viewers such as myself who don't watch any of the 24-hour news channels because we absolutely loathe the way that celebrity "news" served alongside real news. Maybe they don't realize that we're out there?

Come to think of it, why isn't there a specific 24-hour network for gossip-- a home for all the lawsuits, weddings, divorces and "Runaway Bride" stories? They could call it Fluff TV! Then all the insipid crap could be on a single channel I could block from my tv! That would be glorious!

I don't know, maybe it's just me.