Looks like MSNBC is "dumbing down" even further.

[Armstead]

The cable news world is getting dumber and dumber.

That's why two bright and serious and civil commentators like Buchanan and Press got yanked from their show. MSNBC is apparently looking to create a new show ar 9 p.m. with a bimbo host. Among those mentioned is the infamous Debra Norville and Connie Chung. (Yep. the same one who bombed on CNN.)

B & P were also canned to make life easier for the scandle-mongerting host of the Abrams Report. So it'll be wall-to-wall Michael Jackson and Lacy Peterson mixed with the oasis of Keith Olberman and the political slime of Joe Scatborough.

Can the media get a any stupider?

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/story/140142p-124388c.html

Norville eyed for cable job

Chung also in running

By STEPHEN BATTAGLIO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER


Media Contest: Norville is in running to anchor MSNBC show.

Deborah Norville and Connie Chung are in the running to anchor a new tabloid-type program on struggling cable-news network MSNBC.
The show will fill the 9 p.m. slot currently occupied by "The Abrams Report," with chief legal correspondent Dan Abrams.

Norville, now anchor of the syndicated newsmagazine "Inside Edition," appears to be the leading candidate for the job, according to one insider.

More

[nomaco-10]

1. Yep, MSNBC has really hit the skids ...

I tune in there less and less since their steady decline started about a year or so ago. It's really a shame, because at one point, I thought they were making an effort to become a bonafide news source. That quickly went down tube in favor of non stop coverage of Laci, Kobe, Jacko.
Until someone gets into the position of management at one of the cable network news stations and has enough balls to choose substance over fluff, we'll be spoon fed this tripe 24/7.
I have become reliant on the internet for the real news and it's hard to find anyone to hold a decent conversation with, they look at you like, 'what planet are you from?' then it's back to Michael Jackson....
Sad ain't it?

[0007]

2. I wish Ted Turner would buy 'em out!

....but of course Americans think these whore networks are the gospel.

[arwalden]

3. QUESTION: Why Do You Even BOTHER Watching?

Seriously. Why bother anymore?

Almost a year ago, I started my own personal "boycott" of anything related to cable-news. ANY cable news outlet at all was NOT going to be watched in our home.

It started off as a boycott... which meant that I felt like I was denying myself something to prove a point. I felt like I was making a sacrifice of NOT watching.

And for a short while... I was making a personal sacrifice. To be honest, despite the fact that it was my own anger that prompted me to begin my own personal boycott... it was difficult to NOT watch and it was difficult to NOT tune in every time there was a major news event going on.

The only thing I can compare it to is quitting smoking. You do have withdrawal symptoms. But once you manage to go a couple of months without watching cable-news, then you realize how IDIOTIC all of them are.

Stop watching CNN, FOX, and MSNBC! Just stop.

You still have network news (if you must) PBS, CSPAN, etc. And don't forget online sources as well. --- Speaking of which, I don't visit the cable-news web sites either.

Okay, lecture over. Thanks for listening.

-- Allen

[Billy Burnett]

5. You're right. The most toxic things are the most addictive

Cigarettes, sugar, caffeine, adrenaline, cable nooz.

[AmericanDem]

6. Burying your head in the sand..

won't make things get any better. I watch bit and pieces of programs, no matter how biased they are to keep current in the ways things are being portrayed. Without knowing what is being said, how are you supposed to develop to way to respond.

You could probably help alot more people around you by knowing as many facts as possible, instead of turning a blind eye and hoping a miracle happens.

[Mikimouse]

9. Ignoring the junk 'news' does not mean that our heads are in the sand

I haven't watched that garbage for three years now, and am much better informed than most (at least by my estimation). I read a wide variety of international news sources every day, on the web, and find that the coverage is much less biased than any domestic news source. Thus, I would argue that shutting out the screeching of cannibal news has a positive, rather than a negative influence on general levels of understanding.

[Armstead]

7. Why it matters

I'm not concerned about getting news for myself. I've always sought out altrnate sources of news. And with the Internet and broadband, there's a lot to choose from.

But in a larger sense, most people don't have the interest or ability to find otehr information and voices. So they rely on the TV Nooze to find out what's going on, and to form an opinion. (That's not a criticism. It's just the way people are.)

Therefore the agenda, priorities and message from the mainstream media does set the national political and social agenda.

So the quality of life and politics does depend on this.

[AmericanDem]

4. Hopefully someone is will pick up that theme of B&P

On the whole, I wasn't a major fan of Press and certainly not Buchanan. The show did get good information out. It was shown from the Dem and Rep side without alot of the bitter over the top biased such as CrossFire.

You would think someone would pick up a show like that. I never followed ratings but I can't imagine B&P having ratings any worse then most shows on the air.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

8. We oughta try to save Buchanan and Press....

all write in to MSNBC.

[oasis]

11. Don't get your hopes up. MSNBC turned a deaf ear to fans of Donahue's show

which had better rating than the rest of the MSNBC lineup.

[newyorican]

10. They have blown it, cause MJ scandal will disappear...

when it becomes obvious that the stupid DA has no evidence, but plenty of malice. What'll Danny talk about after that (about mid-December)?

[mlawson]

12. Now, now. They MUST get voters ready for November 2004!

What were you thinking?????

[rumguy]

13. It's so sad...

Buchanan and Press was one of only two decent shows on MSNBS (Olberman being the other)...they were independent and smart...

Their show wasn't about trashing the other side and scoring cheap points.

Norville and Chung can go to hell. Chung's show was an abomination that made me almost physically ill the few times I checked in on it.

[CatWoman]

14. W-a-a-a-a-y ahead of you, Armstead

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=791195