they're doing their jobs they way their owners want them done.

We need systemic reform: rolling back the loosening of restrictions on consolidated media ownership.

loved the new show btw

I am also hooked.

Why is the press not covering the lies being told by Romney? This is a great example of the press not doing its job

I work at a TV station. Boy I wish it was like that here

Real news would be wonderful again.

Is it Time to Occupy the TV Stations Yet?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002854018

I thought Occupy might have help from within. Are there more like you?

Viacom isn't going to rock it's own boat. US cable news isn't about left versus right bias. It is about manufacturing consent, selling wars, selling fear and making people believe that democracy is real and that going into a booth every 4 years is some kind of meaningful participation.

But we are being groomed to be idle spectators to our own lives and our own culture.

TV has NEVER been a good way to get the truth or investigate -- it is lazy by design.

That would be Time Warner

And this is a show that is written and produced by Aaron Sorkin. It's a pretty good show about the inner workings of a newsroom. You really should give it half a chance before condemning it.

Not knocking the show. It looks to be entertaining from the trailer but I am wary of using fictional dramas as the source of truth about how newsrooms operate right now. The problem with mass media is not laziness as the OP asserts -- it is more like foxes guarding the hen house -- and the tendency of viewers to seek out infotainment sources that pander to their beliefs IMHO.

decision on Montana wanting to curb corporate spending - do you think they have anyone on from Montana????

Hell no - they have on Mark Halperin, and other analysts.

That's all they do. Analyze.

At this very moment Andrea Mitchell has someone on from the RNC to discuss SB1070.
Seriously???? Why isn't anyone on the streets in Phoenix talking to the people that SB1070 effects and see what they have to say about the Scotus ruling??? No - that would mean actually doing some investigated journalism rather than calling talking heads to come on and analyze the ruling and how it will effect the Presidential election.
AND when the RNC talking head said that President Obama hasn't done anything on immigration reform - there was no rebuttal.
Is it because Andrea Mitchell is just too lazy to research the facts & doesn't know all that this administration has done or is it because it would be too much work to actually present the facts?

The news has been cancelled and analysts have replaced facts with spin.

The top story was about Deepwater Horizon. So they asked for BP, Haliburton to come on the show. These people were never asked to come on any shows until much much later in the process.

This show really is surreal. It's almost like it should have been this way all along.

One of my favorite lines was from Sam Waterston's character. He talked about the fact that Murrow brought down McCarthy and Cronkite helped to end the Vietnam war. Those guys were real journalists. And real people who actually cared for this country at a time we really needed them. We need real journalists again today. I know there are plenty out there, but not in the Mainstream Media.

story - he would have to assume it was one of James O'keefe's stories.
That cracked me up!

They are "awake" and doing their job but their job isn't investigative journalist. It is to stay within the issue frames that they are given and build an audience to sell to advertisers. Much closer to professional cheerleaders than journalist. We aren't the customer for MSNBC or any of the cable news outlets.

If anyone reading this REALLY wants to know how a cable newsroom runs have a look at these:

http://observer.com/2010/12/leaked-fox-news-memo-keep-global-warming-a-debate/

a bigger batch from 2003:
http://wonkette.com/17613/fox-news-memos-the-whole-batch

And yes those are Fox but it is a mistake to think that other cable news outlets operate all that differently. It wasn't Fox that fired Dan Rather or Keith Olberman.

Cable news is not news. Just like "reality TV" is not real life. It is entertainment. Real journalism is out there but you won't find it on CNN/MSNBC/FNC/Today/ABC/CBS because that isn't the business they are in.

For more enlightened perspective on US news I like:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/usa
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/

It is not anything else. It's a story. There is a difference between news and a fictional story about a fictional newsroom. Really. Did you think that West Wing was a true story about the White House?

For pete's sake....

eta - just because American President was a movie - doesn't mean that one can't wish for a Presidential Speech coming from President Obama like the one Andrew Shepard gave at the end of the movie, can it?


If one cable news host watches this series and decides they are going to do more investigative journalism, wow - that would be a huge win.

It did illustrate (rather well) the dramatic disconnect between what many people want from news broadcasts with what we intead receive.

I think Sorkin was at the top of his game with last night's script.

Those are our public airwaves.

They manufactured consent for a stolen election in 2000, attacking innocent nations after 9/11, lied about 'evidence' which resulted in the deaths of millions of people.

The lied about that Niger Uranium forgery over and over. The UN laughed when they saw it, discredited it with a 5 minute google search. They didn't even use the right names or letterhead. It was a joke!

Do you think the press could have done that? No, they were paid to enable the death of millions of innocent people, children maimed in the most horrible ways, and now babies being born with birth defects from Depleted Uranium.

She is a big West Wing fan and really liked the show