The reason Crossfire is no longer on the air is not because Jon Stewart mocked it. It’s because no one ever won. Political Junkies are not undecided, and they will gravitate to programs where their side of the argument wins. This basic programming insight killed television journalism.
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BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
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Tom Braden was in the CIA and worked in Operation Mockingbird, which, among other things, funneled money to journalists. When Tom Braden sat “on the Left” he was defining the limits of public discourse. Actually, he was defining the limits of thought.
It’s true that there aren’t shows on television now that even pretend to show both sides, but maybe that means of propaganda has been found to be less effective.
There are people on the right that are operating in a parallel universe, with no fixed stars. Therefore, no communication is possible.
People would rather watch HANNITY and colmes than HANNITY AND COLMES.
It’s a basic principle of social psychology; people look for reaffirmation. And there’s a lot of research right now that shows that the more venues people have for getting information, the more narrowly they select their own venues to confirm their own preconceptions and views.
When I grew up, you chose your evening news–NBC, ABC or CBS–and may have timed dinner to catch them. Now, we begin on the web in the morning, and sure as heck I don’t surf to FAUX.
The problem with Crossfire and others is that the moderators virtually never ask the “pundits” to prove what they say.