And the same goes for ABC, NBC, CBS, and C-SPAN. Comcast and DirectTV too. (FOX? Feh. They don't deserve to be included in a discussion about news.)
The American broadcast news media sucks! I mean they really, really, really suck. They don't have the slightest clue about their responsibility to American democracy.
They thrive on fear and terror. They celebrate disaster.
But I'm not upset about something I saw. It's what I didn't see.
I didn't see Alberto Gonzales testifying on my TV Thursday. Watching important congressional hearings LIVE, piped into our living rooms, is an American tradition. The fodder of participatory democracy. But not any more.
And it's just a symptom of the larger problem -- an unwillingness to give busy Americans the news they need. And it's costing us in lives and justice and so much more.
The audaciously corrupt Bush administration. Nine-Eleven. The invasion and occupation of Iraq. A failing health care system. Poverty. Lack of preparation for natural disasters.
All of this and more lies at the feet of an irresponsible, unaccountable broadcast news media. (And I don't mean to excuse other media, but, let's face it, TV is where most people get their news. And when it comes to something like congressional testimony, the tube is still unmatched in the ability to take us there as the news happens.)
In a healthly, functioning democracy, Abu G's testimony would have been viewed live by most citizens who turned on a TV that day. The fact that most of Americans couldn't watch if they wanted to is nothing less than a disgrace and a disaster for democracy.
Used to be that the big three -- ABC, NBC, and CBS -- recognized their duty to public service. They showed important congressional testimony LIVE. Because it's NEWS, big NEWS, when Congress uses its investigatory power to confront the executive branch about an issue of profound importance. Like, say, an unprecedented politicization of the Justice Department. All Americans should have access when the Attorney General is questioned about his involvement in a plot to use U.S. Attorneys to corrupt our electoral system. That's big f-ing NEWS. And it deserves to pre-empt General Hospital.
But way back when, cable-TV gave the broadcast networks an excuse to phase out live coverage of congressional testimony. Let those goo-goo good government types watch CNN. But at least anyone with a $10 basic cable hook-up could watch and make sure their representatives were doing right by the people.
But CNN and MSNBC found their out: C-SPAN. I have C-SPAN...C-SPAN 1. That's all Comcast deems fit to provide to a standard cable subscriber where I live. Maybe you get C-SPAN 2. But if you wanted to see for yourself what our prevaricating Attorney General had to say this week, you needed C-SPAN 3. Good luck with that. I'm guessing the percentage of Americans who get C-SPAN 3 isn't that high. I remember watching Iran Contra hearings on a TV in a waiting area while getting my oil changed. It was on the big three and everyone saw it.
Or you could rely on a broadband internet connection -- something many of us take for granted, but also something the majority of Americans don't have. And even if you had broadband on Thursday, there were no guarantees. I finally gave up in the middle of the Schumer-Abu G smackdown, just when those tubes started getting clogged. A quick switch over to C-SPAN internet radio and I was back in the game. But it sounded like I was trying to tune in some obscure broadcast from the other side of the planet over a ham-radio set. Kind of ironic, don't you think?
And what can we do? Write the networks and blog and try to reason with those that still filter the news for most Americans? Maybe. But right now I just want to stand on my virtual roof-top and shout at CNN and MSNBC and the rest:
YOU SUCK!!
YOU SUCK!! YOU SUCK!! YOU SUCK!!!
CNN and MSNBC, you suck rotten eggs!!