so we agree....the Swift Boat Veteran's for Truth press conference this week is not important election year news and shouldn't be covered.....but Bush's fake TANG records from 1973 are...
Posted on 01/29/2006 9:20:51 AM PST by Pikamax
Ted Koppel Pens First Piece as 'NY Times' Columnist--Comes Out Swinging
By E&P Staff
Published: January 29, 2006 12:45 AM ET
NEW YORK In his first contribution after being named a New York Times columnist, former ABC newsman Ted Koppel declares, "I cannot help but see that the industry in which I have spent my entire adult life is in decline and in distress."
Koppel raps the new "calculated subjectivity" and forced empathy of cable news, and adds: "The accusation that television news has a political agenda misses the point. Right now, the main agenda is to give people what they want. It is not partisanship but profitability that shapes what you see."
But his view is that journalists "should be telling their viewers what is important, not the other way around. "
In a surprise conclusion, he suggests that perhaps rather than aiming news shows at the disinterested younger segment, the networks should focus on serving older consumers who actually are interested in serious news. (Is there a lesson for newspapers here?)
The goal for the traditional broadcast networks now "is to identify those segments of the audience considered most desirable by the advertising community and then to cater to them," Koppel writes. "Most television news programs are therefore designed to satisfy the perceived appetites of our audiences. That may be not only acceptable but unavoidable in entertainment; in news, however, it is the journalists who should be telling their viewers what is important, not the other way around.
"Indeed, in television news these days, the programs are being shaped to attract, most particularly, 18-to-34-year-old viewers. They, in turn, are presumed to be partly brain-dead — though not so insensible as to be unmoved by the blandishments of sponsors.
"Most particularly on cable news, a calculated subjectivity has, indeed, displaced the old-fashioned goal of conveying the news dispassionately. But that, too, has less to do with partisan politics than simple capitalism." Koppel knocks CNN's new emphasis on journalism-by-empathy, and observes: "Even Fox News's product has less to do with ideology and more to do with changing business models...
"Now, television news should not become a sort of intellectual broccoli to be jammed down our viewers' unwilling throats. We are obliged to make our offerings as palatable as possible. But there are too many important things happening in the world today to allow the diet to be determined to such a degree by the popular tastes of a relatively narrow and apparently uninterested demographic....
"If the network news divisions cannot be convinced that their future depends on attracting all demographic groups, then perhaps, at least, they can be persuaded to aim for the largest single demographic with the most disposable income — one that may actually have an appetite for serious news. That would seem like a no-brainer. "
Ted Koppel wouldn't be who and where he is today if not for Jimmy Carter's bungling of the Iranian hostage fiasco.
Ping for NY Times in scare quotes.
And he blames cable news! Partisanship wormed its way into network news long before profitability was ever an issue. Network news partisanship dates back to the 50s and 60s!
Such petulance as described in this column presupposes the notion that Koppel is actually an adult.
"Alright you stupid little people. We'll tell you what's important and what isn't. You just shut up and listen." Ted still doesn't get it.
Well put!
I don't know if I agree with Koppel's rant, but why do you call him "one of the worst partisan hack jobbers of all time?"
He's never reminded me of Aaron Brown
Ted is just crying because now with the internet, the "ignorant masses" that need to be "educated" have discovered a new source of stories that the masters of the airways have deliberately left out or distorted beyond reality.
I somehow think it fitting that Ted "Whopper" Koppel is working for the DNC-Slimes.
We are not so easily fooled Ed..
so we agree....the Swift Boat Veteran's for Truth press conference this week is not important election year news and shouldn't be covered.....but Bush's fake TANG records from 1973 are...
Sad but true. And we, the masses, didn't get it then. Last year in high school history class my son was shown a 'year end review' from TV in the early 80's. He came home and told me how biased it was against the Repubs. This was during RR's presidency. I told him that most people believed the news then, it didn't occur to us not to. Really glad to have awakened to the blatant manipulation in favor of the 'progressives'. Wish I had realized it a long time ago.
And please read it without inflection or subjective adjectives while reading the news.
Some gig if you can get it. Koppel is getting big bucks to state the obvious.
Once again the Annointed show how they are incapable of seeing beyond their own arrogance and self-importance. Hey Ted: just STFU so we won't know what an idiot your are--with a totalitarian mindset.
...get this on the air now Mapes....it's very important....... oh..and by the way who's Lucy Rameriz?
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