If you were starting a news channel, what would it look like?
 

I am sick of the "news." I can't stand listening to another word about OJ Simpson or Kramer. On the level of things that are important to me, both of those fall very low on the radar. Racism is an important issue, and it is manifested through what Kramer said, but all the "news" cares about is if he has apologized and whether his appearance on Letterman was a sufficient apology. I don't care.

My news channel would focus on real issues. I would have a program that looked at what Congress and the Executive were doing. What bills are they considering? Who is attaching a crazy rider to that bill? What are the political alignments looking like in the House and Senate? I wouldn't quote Senators or Representatives at all, because I would know they would only feed me pre-scripted spin. I would look at voting records and then examine why they voted for or against something (was it a vote against the actual proposal, or a vote against a rider to the proposal, or a quid pro quo vote?).

I would have a program on the judiciary. What is the Supreme Court up to? What cases are pending? What alignments are forming on the Court? What oral arguments were heard today? Why are they significant? Should the Court have taken the case? What types of judicial interpretation did they use in the opinions?

I would have a program on international issues. What is going on in Darfur? Why does that conflict exist? Can the UN be effective in those kinds of crises? Can US involvement help? What would help look like? What is going on in Thailand following the coup? What were the reasons for the coup? What is going on to combat AIDS in Africa? How did colonialism affect Africa? Are any negative effects reversable? What is going on in South America? Are countries realigning with Venezuela? What is going on with China? Is their economy really becoming more capitalistic? How are human rights issues going there? Russia- stable? Securing nuclear weapons?

There is so much to talk about that is important. Let's start dealing with those issues on actual news.

sounds like your news program would approximate Bob Novak's columns.

News is about one thing and one thing only: Entertainment.

I've been behind the scenes in a news room a number of times, watched the production of an upcoming newscast and that point was very evident early on.

They didn't have to say a word and it was obvious.

lol! Yikes!

Maybe I envision NPR on television.

Three words: Cleavage Cleavage Cleavage!!

We can work with this...

:)

What would it look like?

It would be orange with a yellow stripe.