I've tried watching cable to get news...

[Hortensis]

11. Not hardly! But most cable shows are on budgets and hire

cheap names, who themselves come on as instant "experts" to pump up their personal brands and careers and/or marketability as speakers. Lots of the young ones fall in this group, and of course the discussion is inane.

Others are older, once-impressive names who've dwindled into hacks selling books or, again, keeping their speaking fees pumped up by not letting their names fade away. Both Woodward and Bernstein are among those. They both reward conservative shows for having them on to sell their current books by claiming that H's emails remind them of Watergate (!).

Who you don't see spending hour after hour on various inane, low-pay shows through the week are the real movers and shakers. The real experts in what's going on.

Those who want real information understand that's to be found in written media, with only the tiniest, most shallow fraction finding its way onto the screen, that fraction inevitably distorted beyond recognition by being dumbed down into a couple of sentences or catchy phrases.