Shep is giving us a BREAK...

Way to go Shep!!!!!!!!!!

Shepard Smith is at this moment taking the bold step of actually pointing out on the air when a story is NOT breaking news:

     "Now, this is NOT Breaking News at this time...this is a story we've been following all day."

He also pointed out that a particular story was indeed BREAKING NEWS ... and followed up with:

   "This is the ONLY actual breaking news that we are following at this time."

And, to his credit, Shepard is making the disclaimer though out his newscast:

 
 "Remember we'll ONLY give breaking news that is ACTUALLY breaking news!"


*****NOTE:

During the past week I decided to do a little experiment with all three cable news networks to determine each network's use of the "cry wolf" technique of "ALERTS":

I recorded each of the newtorks (CNN, FOX, and MSNBC) for six hours each.  Each network was recorded for the same six hour time period on the same date.

The entire six hours consisted only of regular news programming and did NOT include any feature programming.

The results:    (same time period, same date, same news content available to each network)


            Percent of news stories that carried the banners

            BREAKING NEWS, NEWS ALERT, etc.:

                         CNN           17%

                         MSNBC      23%

                         FOX    87%


Again, Thanx to Shepard Smith for stepping outside the box!

...getting lax....

 (Lackadaisical  Lis )  

On last night's   "The Factor",  Lis Wiehl made a comment that someone was being... "very laxidasical...".

Bill O'Reilly proceeded to agree with her and repeated the term "laxidaisical" several times ...then moved on to the next thought.

Duh,...Bill,  your word for the day for your copy writers is  "SPELL CHECK"
(and for Lis and yourself : " PRONOUNCIATION  CHECK")!  

...'nuff said

According to a story dated 03/23/2011 in the the New York Times:

"In prime time Saturday, CNN averaged 678,000 viewers among the audience most desired by news advertisers, ages 25 to 54. MSNBC averaged 254,000, while Fox News drew 353,000. On Sunday, CNN averaged 442,000 viewers; MSNBC, 298,000; and Fox News, 344,000. "

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/23/business/media/23msnbc.html?_r=1

These numbers are for a weekend that saw the no-fly zone and battles in Libya and contimuing Japan recovery efforts....real news.   MSNBC had "Lockup" - Fox had "Huckabee" and  "Geraldo".

Kind of evident who gets the gravy when the real news really matters !

Same song - second verse.....

More condemnation of the President and the government from Fox anchors and  "ex-spurt" contributors...

...this time "too little too late" on our involvement in the Libya crisis..

......we should have gone in full force with ground troops, full air combat, etc and we should have made that commitment earlier than we did ...

...and, the President broke the law with the  impeachable offense of acting without the approval of Congress!

Five precedents come to mind:

                
                           George W. Bush

                
                           Afghanistan

                
                           Iraq

                  
                          "Mission Accomplished"

                  
                          5,936 American casualties to date

Yeah....How's that rushing in thing workin' out for ya?

And, lest we forget, as the pundits so proudly remind us,  Ronald Reagan bombed
Qadaffi in 1986 in an effort to take him out.

  
 Result:                          Qadaffi's young daughter killed in attack

      
                                        2 Americans killed in the attack

          
 In retaliation, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed out of the sky over
 Lockerbie, Scotland  resulting in the deaths  of

                     
                               243   Americans

                        
                                 16   crew members

                        
                                 11   residents on the ground.

On  February 24, 2011, resigned justice minister Mustafa Abdel-Jalil revealed that Muamar Qaddafi personally ordered the Lockerbie bombing.

**Off topic:

Best news story intro ever...

                clear, succinct, non-biased, no "crying wolf" with pseudo "alert" intro ....

                            

                        Brooke Baldwin - CNN -

                                               "Now, ... watch this..."

                                                                      
                                                                    ..................straight to the point !


****also uses these transitional phrases very effectively:

                                 "Now, hear this..."   (going to audio report from the field)

                                 "Take a look at this video with me..."  (going to video report)

Saturday, March 19, 2011

 

Every few days it seems like one of the feature "expert" panels on one of Fox's many discussion forums is made up mostly, if not entirely, of members of the Tea Party movement or the Congressional Tea Party Caucus.

 

As I watch these various Tea Party discussions I am taken back to a time many, many years ago  when my daughter was just a child...sitting with her friends around a little dollhouse size table ... cups, saucers, and teapot placed before them in their cute little make believe, pretend tea party.

 

I guess when it comes to tea parties ... some things never change!

Friday, March 18, 2011

**Off Topic - honorable mention - honorary FIB

Nancy Grace:

Questioning respected CNN reporter Gary Tuchman reporting from Japan.... questions his accuracy in reporting death toll ...

"I don't believe that there are only 13,000 dead from the catastrophe...I think Japanese government is hiding something from us.  Why would they do that?"

....actual confirmed death toll from multiple sources at this time is only 6,700 .... where is she getting her numbers?

....with hundreds of thousands missing and feared dead,  the Japanese government certainly has higher priorities than answering to a has-been hack lawyer trying to       sell more books and promote her own agenda (daytime TV justice  program)        .

Really, Nancy....REALLY!!???!!

Same show -  Friday, March 18, 2011, -different segment:

Despite all experts, medical...scientific...government...and independent.., stating quite simply that radiation levels reaching the United States from Japan are minimum and in no way pose a threat to the American people,  Miss Grace Under Fire leads with a teaser that " ...radiation has now reached the coast of California and Governor Brown has declared a "state of emergency"  (implying state of emergency is result of radiation levels).

She then "throws" it to a radio reporter from Los Angeles who proceeds to correct her by stating that the Governor's declaration is due to the tsunami damage along the California coast.

While the reporter is voicing a report about "2 million dollars in damages to California coastline"....the producers are running a video clip of the 24 ft tsunami waves ravaging the Japanese coastline with "BILLIONS" of dollars in damages and untold loss of life as if to imply that the video is of the California tsunami.

Did you minor in "ethics" in college, Nancy??????

Follow-up -  today Martha McCollum continuing  train(wreck) of thought from Hannity's previous day's panel (Obama not doing enough to help Japanese).

 

C'mon guys get over it and get on with something more substantive  -- read your own tag line  ... "MOVE FORWARD"!

**Off Topic:

 

Rush Limbaugh spent time today talking about his loss of hearing and resultant implant.   He commented during the show that he has trouble hearing what other people are saying....well, no surprise here.

 

He also said that at times, depending on ambient white noise, he can't even hear what he is saying.

 

This takes me back to the late 80's and  early 90's.  I worked the board at a radio station that aired Rush's syndicated EIB broadcasts.  Twenty something years ago, as well as to this date, I asked and  continue to ask of Rush ...

 

...................."DO YOU HEAR WHAT YOU'RE SAYING??!!???"

Sean Hannity's  "All American Panel"  tonight tore up the President for not DOING enough SOON enough to help the Japanese people in their time of need.

These are the SAME people that not too very long ago were tearing up the President and government for interfering in world affairs and reminding him that "we are not the world police nor are we the  saviors of the world".

Good Job!!!!.... To Shep Smith on his coverage of the crisis from Japan and not letting it turn into a political issue.

And good job Shep for shutting down another anchor when they tried to turn the whole tragedy into something political!!!

UNclear reactor meltdown - megyn kelly, bill o'reilly, glen beck, sarah palin, christine o'donnel,  sean hannity, michelle bachman, newt gingrich -- they just don't get it... and react un-accordingly (more importantly - un-appropriately)!

Overheard by Casey Steagall Fox News while reporting on Japan tsunami damage : "We'll have more SEVERE reports of damage after this."  

 

...duh... should maybe be more REPORTS of severe damage....???!!!!