Broken TV
I have a confession to make: I never watch TV "news." Ever. No "reporting," no gab fests, no carefully choreographed Congressional hearings— nothing.
I used to watch all of it. While playing guitar, while working out, while cooking, while eating. Knowing that it was rotting my brain, but nevertheless addicted. That's how addictions work. But after spending most of 2004 and 2005 traveling in Europe, occasionally catching the BBC or CNN International, upon returning home, I just couldn't watch the domestic versions anymore. It was embarrassing. It was painful. It was a waste of time.
If there's anything worth seeing on TV, Jed or Crooks & Liars or ThinkProgress or one of you intrepid diarists will post it. The further magic of the intertoobs— they make even the traditional media better. I never have to watch the real thing. I never have to wither away my attention span while trying to ignore the uniformly offensive commercials. I never watch TV "news." Ever.
But last night and this morning, I did.
There's this heartbreaking and horrible catastrophe taking place in Japan. As the nuclear crisis seemed to be taking a turn very much for the even worse, I wanted to catch the latest. So I turned on CNN. Which once was the best at live coverage. Except last night it wasn't live. It was Anderson Cooper, the first hour of his show apparently being repeated because, as I discovered by returning to Daily Kos and reading a comment thread, he had left the area due to the potential danger from the nuclear crisis seeming to be taking a turn very much for the even worse. Apparently, he had tweeted it. But CNN wasn't reporting it. They were re-running the first hour of his show, not bothering to notify the viewers that it wasn't live, and not reporting that the nuclear crisis seemed to be taking a turn very much for the even worse.
I didn't learn.
This morning, I again tuned in. I wanted to know the latest. I hadn't learned that the last place to learn the latest is on TV. On CNN. Which once was the best at live reporting.
CNN had Wolf Blitzer in Egypt, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The banner at the bottom even told us that Wolf Blitzer was in Egypt, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. As if that's what matters. Wolf Blitzer is in Egypt with Hillary Clinton. Not what the Secretary of State is doing in Egypt, but that Wolf Blitzer is in Egypt with her. The perpetually timid Wolf Blitzer. The always promoting false equivalencies Wolf Blitzer. The so determined to present even the illusion of balance that if (when?) the Republicans went flat-Earther he'd "report" it as a budding new controversy over the shape of the planet Wolf Blitzer. In Egypt. With Hillary Clinton. Which is what matters. Not what's happening in Egypt, but that Wolf Blitzer is in Egypt with Hillary Clinton. Which is the most important thing happening in Egypt. According to CNN.
And then they broke for commercial.
And then they came back.
And it wasn't about Japan. It was to report that the actor who voiced the AFLAC duck has been fired for tweeting jokes. The reporting of which was astonishing enough. And then they began to interview someone about the actor who voiced the AFLAC duck being fired for tweeting jokes.
And I turned off my TV. Enough. Enough TV "news." For the next several years. At least.
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