

How to Fix the News - lackbeard
http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/deadnews

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bokonist
"Together, these three points seem like the recipe for a genuine news show:
intelligent, comprehensive, and entertaining. And yet, I can't think of a
single thing that follows them."

Isn't this the concept behind 60 Minutes? Frontline, 20/20, John Stossel, etc.
also follow a similar model. These shows are all both high quality and
popular.

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projectileboy
They definitely _were_ , once upon a time. 60 Minutes has lost its edge over
time; I'd say they never really recovered from the episode with Brown and
Williamson (dramatized in the movie "The Insider"). I don't know when 20/20
disintegrated, but when I see it now, I can barely distinguish it from
Dateline NBC, which is little more than a new cartoon for children.

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epi0Bauqu
Like any show, 60 minutes has its ups and downs, bad stories and good. But on
the whole I still watch it and find it very high quality and well produced.

Other news(y) shows I like (some of the time): Q&A (on C-SPAN), Charlie Rose,
Sunday Morning, and Meet the Press.

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projectileboy
I second the Charlie Rose show. It's not outstanding, but I'd say it's the
only TV show in America that attempts serious interviews.

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mullr
This American Life, while excellent, has very little to do with news. Perhaps
you could compare it to a typical human interest story. But its goal is
clearly not to provide information on current events.

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aaronsw
I clearly say I'm talking about their episode "The Giant Pool of Money" which
was very clearly a news show, co-produced with NPR News.

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mullr
Ah, missed that. Sorry.

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Tichy
Too bad that most people want dumb news. It is touching that some people make
a valiant effort to create something intelligent, but the fact is, they will
always be a struggling minority.

Even Hacker news is no exception: I constantly click on those "The most
important thing you need to know" articles, against better knowledge. It is
just the way the human brain is wired - therefore we will always read the sex
gossip stuff and only occasionally force ourselves to read something more
demanding.

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xlnt
i learned not to click them.

so either brains aren't wired that way, or we can rewire them.

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michael_dorfman
Doesn't Jon Stewart already fit the bill? Intelligent, comprehensive, and
entertaining. And, more news value (pound for pound) than just about any other
news show.

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Goronmon
For some reason, I don't think basing selection of news stories on whatever is
the funniest to crack jokes about is the "goal" we should aim for with
reporting. Not trying to knock Jon Stewart, but just because sometimes he is
more informative than some news shows doesn't mean we should be looking toward
him to set the standard.

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njetx
The writer makes the common mistake to equate circulation decline with decline
of interest in the news. That clearly isn't the case which even a quick look
at Pew Research stats would show. People are getting their news from the
internet.

The news and music industries are very similar and despite what you read both
are booming. It is the newspaper and recording industries that are buggered.

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gleb
It's a bit more subtle than that. Consider Wall Street Journal. It does not
fit the general "decline of the news" theme, and for a good reason -- it's a
great product. It is getting harder and harder to sell bad products,
convenient delivery is no longer sufficient for success.

