DFW HOYA
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Post by DFW HOYA on Jul 24, 2009 7:30:21 GMT -5
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Elvado
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Post by Elvado on Jul 24, 2009 7:58:31 GMT -5
Kind of like asking who the most honest con man is these days. The poll results reflect the sad truth that news is simply one more form of entertainment these days and none of them have any gravitas whatsoever.
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Jul 24, 2009 8:27:08 GMT -5
The people who responded to this poll acted stupidly.
On the other hand, don't try to tell me Time wasn't inviting exactly this response. What is Jon Stewart doing in this poll to begin with?
It's like me asking the question, "Who is your favorite world leader?" with the choices being Gordon Brown, Angela Merkel, Silvio Berlusconi.....or President Kang.
They wanted this result. They got it. Yay for them!!
(Besides, none of these people are as good at being a newscaster as Shepard Smith. There may not be very many "newscasts" left on cable anymore, but Shep is the man!).
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theexorcist
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Post by theexorcist on Jul 24, 2009 8:48:34 GMT -5
The people who responded to this poll acted stupidly. On the other hand, don't try to tell me Time wasn't inviting exactly this response. What is Jon Stewart doing in this poll to begin with? It's like me asking the question, "Who is your favorite world leader?" with the choices being Gordon Brown, Angela Merkel, Silvio Berlusconi.....or President Kang. They wanted this result. They got it. Yay for them!! (Besides, none of these people are as good at being a newscaster as Shepard Smith. There may not be very many "newscasts" left on cable anymore, but Shep is the man!). Don't blame me - I voted for Kodos. In Jon's defense, this is how the *last* guy got the title. www.slate.com/id/2223288/ |
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Nevada Hoya
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Post by Nevada Hoya on Jul 25, 2009 13:30:13 GMT -5
Jim Lehrer (although in his "old age" not as good as 10 years ago.
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Post by strummer8526 on Jul 25, 2009 13:49:41 GMT -5
Wow, this is pretty awful. I mean, I like Jon Stewart a lot. His show is funny. I agree with a fair amount of what he has to say. But he's no newscaster. And I certainly would not "trust" him to bring the public accurate news.
Brian Williams should have probably run away with this thing. I've found Joe Scarborough to be one of my favorites, especially as I get ready for work, but he clearly has his biases too. I think someone on here during the election argued that Scarborough and Chris Matthews are a nice balance—both seem moderate on their respective sides. But objective newscasters? Not really. Not in the classical "That's the way it is" sense.
The biggest problem is that I don't think it's really possible for anyone, newscasters included, to know "the way it is." Maybe it never was possible. I doubt that in many instances Cronkite knew every detail, or enough detail to be truly certain how "it is." So squabbling over versions of the truth has replaced the actual search for the truth. At least Brian Williams doesn't partake in the partisan back-and-forth.
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The Stig
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Post by The Stig on Jul 25, 2009 21:00:30 GMT -5
Jim Lehrer (although in his "old age" not as good as 10 years ago. Amen. Lehrer is still a reliable, trustworthy news source. Pretty much everybody else seems to have style over substance. All the news networks these days, cable or network, are all about flashy graphics, dramatic music, talking heads screaming at each other, outrageous statements on controversial issues, bashing everybody left and right, and other bullsh*t. The motto of the news networks these days seems to be "you need us." PBS is really the last bastion of the old straight up, no bullsh*t news. It makes them a lot more trustworthy in my mind. They give information, not infotainment. That's not to say they're unbiased. The way I was using the term, bullsh*t in news broadcasts and bias are two totally separate things. |
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Post by JohnJacquesLayup on Jul 27, 2009 12:53:03 GMT -5
Ron Burgundy. He's kinda a big deal.
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TC
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Post by TC on Jul 27, 2009 13:06:50 GMT -5
The shocking thing about this poll is how well John Stewart did EVERYWHERE in the country : www.timepolls.com/hppolls/archive/poll_results_417.htmlNew Hampshire is the only state where he doesn't come in first or second. It's a small sample size poll (Katie Couric got 0% in Alaska because they asked 24 people). Iowa loves them some Katie Couric. |
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DFW HOYA
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Post by DFW HOYA on Jul 30, 2009 21:59:30 GMT -5
The irony of a survey naming Stewart the "most trusted newscaster in America" is that that was the same way Cronkite got the title.
For most of the 1960's, Cronkite was a distant #2 to NBC's Huntley-Brinkley Report. It was only after Chet Huntley retired, when Cronkite took the mantle as the top rated anchor and CBS successfully leveraged its hard news format to ratings success.
Cronkite was the only newsman named in an obscure 1972 survey asking respondents to name various public figures on something called a "trust index". Cronkite scored a 73, the "U.S. Senate" scored a 67, and President Nixon a 57. Not exactly science, but the honor stuck.
Finally, the well-known coverage of Cronkite and the JFK shooting was almost by accident. Anchors were not usually at the networks in the afternoon, but Cronkite happened to be eating lunch at his desk in the office when the story broke. CBS opted to go to him for the national coverage from his desk (no set) while NBC used coverage from WNBC-TV in New York. Cronkite also dismissed (for over a half hour) persistent coverage on the President's death coming from KRLD-TV in Dallas until he got confirmation from a wire service 40 minutes later; hence, his famous, if delayed, announcement.
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