Wrong Again...

...the news source for most Americans, is the "news." It used to be NBC, CBS and ABC. And there was PBS for those with very good/long attention spans. Now its CNN, HLN (which I think is CNN), FOX and MSNBC (for a couple thousand nation-wide). But as much as people like to think FOX is right wing, its still headline news for people with a short attention span, with NO DEPTH, just like the others.

Even when they have in-depth extended shows on a topic, there is little outside what you will read or hear everywhere else. If the national news ever hits home for you, like something you know alot about, or something you do for a living - you see first hand how lame it is. The reporters are not smart, don't do a lot of research, and don't really seem to care.

Case in point: READ THIS ARTICLE

"...With the nation and its leaders looking for facts, we got instead a massive plume of apocalyptic mythology and threats of Armageddon. In the Gulf, this misinformation has cost jobs, lowered property values, and devastated tourism, and its effects on national policy could be deep and far-reaching.

...The spreading of this East Coast–beach meme was a joint operation of NCAR, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and the media. In June, NCAR produced a slick computer-modeled animated video that showed a gigantic part of the spill making its way around the southern tip of Florida and up the East Coast. Oil covered everything from the Gulf to the Grand Banks. “BP oil slick could hit East Coast in weeks: government scientists,” dutifully reported the New York Daily News. CBS News, MSNBC, and many other media outlets chimed in in the same vein.

...the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), disavowed the scenario.
...the simulation was bogus from the very beginning, because it ignored important conditions in the Gulf. Furthermore, says Watson, the media never took account of how diluted the oil would be once it hit the Atlantic: The bulk of the theoretically massive spill the video shows amounts to roughly a quart of oil per square mile. Watson claims flat-out that NOAA was “gold digging” for grants; there’s probably more federal research money floating around the Gulf than there is oil. “There is a feeding frenzy with people trying to get funding for their specialty,” he says."

Remind you of Katrina?

Remind you of the "mortgage crisis?"

Remind you of the re-writing of the history of the TWO Gulf Wars?

Remind you of the "hanging chad" bologna during the 2000 presidential election? In that one, reporters were "discovering" the electoral process, something most of us learned in grade school.

It didn't start with OJ Simpson, but that's how I remember it. I was working for Domino's Pizza at the time of the White Ford Bronco chase. The phones stopped ringing. Nobody had time to order pizza, they were glued to their TV sets. I don't think CNN broke from the OJ story for at least 24 hours. You could watch for a few hours (I did) and you would learn NOTHING NEW, and they would get so many things wrong, only later to "break" the new news, which was just correcting what they got wrong in the first place.

Now with oil "spill" (uh, its leaking, not spilling - but they can't even get that right!) they actually had a camera on the ocean floor so you could watch it live. Really. Watch oil shooting out...24/7.

But did you READ THIS? If the Gulf of Mexico was as big as the Dallas Cowboys stadium, the amount of oil leaked out would be equivalent to...ONE 24 OUNCE CAN.

...that last tidbit was brought to you by CNBC. What is that? NBC was doing so bad they added a letter?