For the second day in a row, ABC News (radio) top-of-the-hour headlines led off with:

- news of a huge suicide attack in Kabul? no.
- news of Barack Obama's plane making an emergency landing in St. Louis? no.
- news of Bush at the G8 summit? no.

No, the MOST IMPORTANT NEWS the last two days at ABC, their lead-off story for their radio headlines, is the **DIVORCE of A-Rod** due to his affair with Madonna! WTF???? Who CARES? Isn't this what we have the E-channel and People Magazine for?

I am so disgusted - this on a "progressive talk" radio station, KPOJ!!!

I wish I could have changed the channel but in this case I was sitting down not near the radio... (sigh)

Andrew

I love the term "sucks". Been saying it ever since I learned it in first grade while on recess. A timeless expression that cuts to the chase! If something "sucks", everyone is clear on where it stands!

Regular news sources going tabloid?
Discussed with FoxNews.com for doing the same.

ABC News never survived the Disney buyout. Once the bastion of sports coverage and almost level headed news coverage, the mouse takeover has shifted the emphasis at ABC from quality to mass appeal.

It could be worse. Like Faux News. The scary part is that a lot of people watch Faux. I hear even half of those watching believe what they are reporting.

This is what happens when Republicans cut off funding for education over 12 years of power. There is a huge group of twenty somethings that just don't care to be informed.

I was never high on ABC Radio News. In terms of quality and content of radio network news, I always felt CBS News was the best. Too bad KXL dumped CBS and went with FOX.

I want to add that I've noticed a distinct pro-McCain bias on ABC (radio) news. Or at least, they are easily manipulated by the McCain campaign.

Whatever the case, I've noticed ABC's tendency to broadcast whatever attack McCain has made on Obama almost verbatim, without comment. For example, today they broadcast McCain's attack on Obama for not believing the Surge would "work." If the Obama campaign had a rebuttal (such as that McCain had predicted easy victory early on in the Iraq conflict) ABC did not report it.

I've also noticed ABC's tendency to broadcast pro-McCain stories, such as a few months back when McCain proposed the "gas tax holiday." They actually broadcast it several days in a row as one of their lead stories - without any sort of critical rebuttal, given listeners the impression that, "Gee, here's a guy who cares about gas prices!" The same story was on NPR the same day but covered very differently, giving a more unbiased view.

Meanwhile, ABC never seems to repeat criticisms of McCain from the Obama campaign. And while they do report stories about Obama, they aren't necessarily positive or even neutral. It's usually Obama defending himself against yet another attack of some sort.

Perhaps its time to start recording the ABC news stories from KPOJ every hour for a few weeks, collect them all, and let people see for themselves.

Andrew

I think that would be a great exercise. Play them back and keep a log. Bet Media Matters would carry that information well presented.

I HATE the news on KPOJ. Maybe it's time to start a small Proggy news outlet. Distribute audio on the hour for day parts, and recycle it at night. A couple of people, just reading established news feeds could do it better than the majors currently do.

Most of the traditional media is giving McCain a pass right now. I think it's just money driven. The majors will see more policy that favors them, and the perception of a close race makes money in the short term.

Vitalogy, completely agreed. It's clear, concise and unambiguous.

Here's a book I'm hoping to check out:

http://www.amazon.com/Free-Ride-John-McCain-Media/dp/0307279405/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UT F8&s=books&qid=1216705458&sr=8-1

Last I checked, the county library didn't have it in its database yet. I'll check again.

Andrew

Some time ago, ABC Radio News had a radio anchor named Mary Margaret Meyers with the most incredible voice I'd ever heard on radio. Years ago, ABC Radio had a forum on AOL with a segment dedicated to Mary Margaret Meyers. If ABC News Radio had a redeeming quality, it was radio anchor Mary Margaret Meyers.

They do have some great voices on ABC News, I'll give you that. I love Louise Schiavone's voice for example.

Andrew

Rush Limbaugh has a great voice. Gotta give one to the EIB Network too!

Today on ABC (Radio) News: John McCain has an advantage over Obama when it comes to foreign affairs, regarding the Russian-Georgian dust-up. (George Stephanopoulos then repeats this.) No mention that this is a perception. No analysis. Just ABC News telling its listeners, unchallenged, in a "newscast" that McCain is better at foreign affairs.

Liberal media bias my ass.

Andrew