Thursday, August 02, 2007

And now I'm appalled by Fox News' commercials, too

I am, admittedly, tuning in to Fox News via XM Radio to catch up on the horrible bridge collapse in Minnesota. Call me a rubbernecker.

I'm glad that my handy-dandy pink Pioneer Inno displays the name of the programming, including when the program switches to commercials. I can mute it when they're yammering about ordering Viagra and Cialis online.

Sheesh. It's like listening to spam.

1 comment:

Patrick said...

Part of the issue is whether or not news is entertainment. The reason you see this type of stuf on Fox News (as well as CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, etc) is the change from news being a necessary money drain that provides a service for the public good, to a money making, rating driven industry. This does not mean that such 24 hours services are all bad. In every city there is a news/traffic/weather radio station that often repeats the same information hour to hour. News is only changed as facts that have been validated are released. (Those who still remember the old CNN Headline News remember that is was more like the Weather channel - segment for news, segment for sports, segment for entertainment news, all in 1/2 hour - no running commentary.)

Profit is not inherently bad. It can however, taint those things that do not have as their roots a profit motive. Like getting information out to the population (whether they be local, regional, or national)

Just my $0.02.