Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernacke gave a press conference today. It was the first time a Federal Reserve chairman has even done a press conference. The cable news corporations covered it for 180 seconds even though they showed Donald Trump’s entire press appearance earlier in the day. As Steve Benen notes, this is exactly the kind of poor priority-setting that the president complained about in his press appearance this morning. But, you know, how can you expect companies that are driven by ratings to make it their job to sell people oatmeal? What percentage of the population can follow along when the Federal Reserve chairman is talking his strange language? I know I need a translator.
The problem, as I see it, is that we need an outlet for the people who are willing and able to eat their oatmeal. An hour of news on PBS doesn’t cut it. I don’t know the best way to create that outlet. I know that there is still a certain expectation that media corporations will devote some of their time to the public interest, whether that is kids’ programming or nightly news. But we don’t have anything like the BBC, which really does provide excellent oatmeal.
