Posted on 11/07/2011 9:48:03 AM PST by Shout Bits
Last week Andy Rooney passed away after living a full, if curmudgeonly life. Rooney was, of course, famous for his monologues that concluded CBS's weekly program 60 Minutes. Many people tolerated the boredom of the main program just to hear what triviality would set off Rooney. Rooney was the cranky neighbor, except viewers got him in manageable doses. Unfortunately, 60 Minutes and its producers represented the worst in Old Time Media bias with their general disgust for US capitalism. Rooney was the comic relief that, at the end of each show, soothed people's skepticism and brought them back for another dose of indoctrination.
The 60 Minutes formula was fairly simple: Hit US industry for being competitive. Blame capitalists for the fact that life is hard and unfair. Give prime-time exposure to spokespeople for the outrageous extremes of left-wing viewpoints. Cut industry response time so short that their point seemed trivial. Finally, most programs included a puff piece about a celebrity doing good or an athlete overcoming a tough childhood – a tear jerker to loosen up viewer skepticism. Mix it up, but always one or two tough exposes on companies that should have somehow focused on more than earning a profit.
There was competition for 60 Minutes, of course, such as ABC's 20/20, but CBS had the more popular formula with Rooney. 20/20 was more balanced with John Stossel's migration toward capitalist champion, but CBS had Rooney – the lollypop after visiting the dentist. Even when Rooney made mildly racist comments in 1990 and 1997, CBS knew it could not afford to let him go. Rooney was 60 Minutes's clandestine backbone; he was the foil that allowed 60 Minutes to viciously attack capitalism and conservatives while maintaining a prime-time slot.
The loss of Rooney is not 60 Minutes's only problem. Sensationalism and lack of balance is a dark art that cannot survive in the light provided by internet journalists. 60 Minutes II and Dan Rather were surprised to learn that their claims would be scrutinized when they presented the fake George W. Bush National Guard letters. Not only do internet journalists prevent lies from standing, they also scoop programs constrained by weekly scheduling and high production values. 60 Minutes never covered the Kelly Thomas story – a police brutality case custom made for their sensibilities. Instead, the story was developed and broken by local internet journalists. Again and again, the real news is on the internet and beyond the control of the OTM
To survive, OTM programming must either offer timely reporting or a unique perspective, and 60 Minutes offers neither. Not only do internet journalists debunk blatant and defamatory lies, they get the news out weeks before the OTM can produce a slick hack job. US consumers and voters are fortunate that 60 Minutes will never recapture the number one rating it enjoyed while fraudulently manufacturing defects in Audi cars. The old formula of hit pieces, puff pieces, and Andy Rooney will never work again, so RIP Andy Rooney, and (hopefully soon) good riddance 60 Minutes.
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good riddance!
CA....
The 2nd paragraph about the “simple formula” is spot on. Peeing on this old commies grave would give me great satisfaction. The stench of anti American sentiment that permeates the walls of the 60 Minutes studios must be impossible for any liberty loving American to bare.
And why is God so Judgmental of me? I didn't even think there was a God....
Like him or not, I always kind of thought of Andy as a kind of Winnebago Man sans the foul language.
Youtube Winnebago Man (language warning, he was having a bad day making a sales training video):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSWUWPx2VeQ
or, ask point blank, "have you stopped beating your wife?"
It was (I call it 'was' because I stopped watching it years ago) a horribly left-wing show . . . many, many years ago,
Watching 60 Minutes used to be a weekend ritual in our house. I remember well the last time I watched:
We were based in Washington, DC in the early ‘90s. I was returning from a trip and the newsstand at IAD had run out of the Washington Post. Reluctantly, I picked up a copy of the Washington Times.
After reading an extended piece there, I watched the same subject covered that evening on 60 Minutes and realized what left wing scumbags they were. That’s the last time I watched. (I’ve been a Times subscriber to their weekly edition since then.)
“Peeing on this old commies grave would give me great satisfaction.”
I do hope that:
1. You tolerate long lines well.
2. You remember to bring a camp chair and food.
;-)
60 minutes lost all creditability when they covered the woman’s suit against Audi for “unintended acceleration”. Some woman killed her son by pinning him to the garage and sued Audi for the car mysteriously accelerating. She could not accept the fact her stupidity killed him and not the car. 60 minutes in an effort to help the lawyers did a story on it. No matter what they did they could not get the car to overcome the brakes. So for their audience they just faked it. In the end both the Canadian and US departments of transportation agreed she pushed the wrong petal. They followed that great reporting with the one where they placed explosives in GM pickups to claim the gas tank was dangerous. The only thing at risk in both stories was the truth.
Has Tom Sowell ever been on Sixty Minutes? Sowell is regarded by many conservatives, and a few converted liberals like David Mamet, as the smartest man in the country. He’s certainly on of the most influential thinkers in the country. Why hasn’t Sixty Minutes deigned to give him time on their program?
“I do hope that:
1. You tolerate long lines well.
2. You remember to bring a camp chair and food”
...LOL!!
So that makes Rooney a whore or a shill.
No, wait,....
Yep, I got it, both.
Good ridance to Andy Rooney. He was a fool and a foul mouth old man who hadn’t had a clear thought in 30 years.
As they would say in China: So rong, Andy Looney.
Professor Sowell isn't that easy to get. He thinks print is his medium.Besides the fact that journalists are interested in whatever promotes journalism (i.e., what promotes socialism), and they therefore won't give any conservative a fair shake and Sowell knows it.
Clearly you don’t get it /s. Sixty Minutes would never in a million years feature any well-spoken conservative, let alone an intellectual powerhouse like Dr. Sowell.
And while we’re on the subject of the moral bankruptcy of Sixty Minutes, do you recall around 1994 when a young woman already dying of AIDS unknowingly contracted from her gay dentist, testified before Congress about the need for full disclosure? Big liberal toughguy Mike Wallace blasted her for her homophobia and insensitivity AFTER SHE HAD DIED.
There followed a furor that forced Wallace to issue a clenched teeth apology on the air, though his eyes said “I’d like to punch out every one of you rightwing b@stards who made me do this!”
Sixty Minutes and its crew can go straight to you-know-where. I hope the rocks fall on them.
I clearly get it pal.
Did you catch the sarc /s notice at the end of “you don’t get it”?
Just askin’.
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