The answer I think is that CNN, MSNBC, and the big three networks have a warped idea of what "fair and balanced" news coverage is. They think that by having on some Republican attack dogs who do nothing but spout the party's daily talking points that this maintains the unbiased balance in their reporting. At least that's what they claim is the reason.
The real reason is that they're just following the first principle of TV news..."If it bleeds, it leads". Meaning, of course, that you gotta grab the viewer's attention from the get-go. That's why on every local and national news show, the lead story will be the most sensational one they have. It doesn't matter if the Russians just invaded Poland if they have better visuals of the latest local gruesome homicide. It's like the front page of the National Enquirer. We all pretend not to notice it as we stand in line at the supermarket checkout even as eyes keep darting back and forth peeking at the story about Oprah's lesbian love triangle (just fiction, kids). And ultimately it's about the money.
The more people watch, the more the networks can charge their advertisers. This behooves them to make even the most prosaic story into a headline "breaking news" item. So confronted with two weeks, give or take, of the most yawn-producing, channel-changing topic possible, a political convention, they have got to have a gimmick. And that gimmick is to sic one party's attack dog against another party's or worse stick him or her among a group of rational human beings who actually have cohesive intelligent insightful comments to make. Even better if the ringer is as dumb as a bag of hammers (yes, you, Amy Holmes) and spews the most incoherent non-sequitors imaginable in the guise of profound political observation.
I will freely admit that save for the most important moments of the convention, Hillary's speech, the roll call, Bill Clinton's speech (it was the old Bill Clinton that I revered and esteemed), Joe Biden's speech, and Obama's speech tonight, I have not watched one minute of coverage on either CNN or MSNBC. The two main reasons are Wolf (metalkprettyoneday) Blitzer and Chris (tingleupmyleg) Matthews. Two minutes of listening to them and my head explodes. But more importantly, I can't abide the snide, smug, sneering Republican lickspittles who wouldn't know what doing right for our country is even if it bit them in the ass.
Comments are closed on this story.