Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Oh, give it a rest.

So, I have an unusual habit when I'm on the road for gun school.

In the hotel room I leave the TV turned on to one of the cable news channels with the volume down at a level where it's audible but non-intrusive. I leave it on while I'm writing or working in Photoshop or reading, and I'll leave it on while I'm sleeping.

Originally I used CNN or CNN Headline News, and it was ostensibly because I wanted to keep tabs on current events while I was on the road.

At some point a few years ago, I started alternating channels on alternating nights: MSNBC Friday night, Fox News on Saturday night, then back to MSNBC, lather, rinse, repeat.

Both networks, of course, shed all pretense of objectivity years ago and now deliver the news with a naked partisan slant: infotainment, or perhaps current events presented as professional wrestling spectacle.

What's interesting is how far they've diverged; it's to the point where it's like I'm getting news reports from parallel universes.

Which is what made this headline funny:
'It disturbs me to my core': Fox News staffers express outrage over Hannity's rally appearance
Oh give me a break! Half your news programs border on GOP electioneering already; Hannity's just honest enough to dispense with the facade.

The only thing funnier is the fact that this tongue-clucking article is at the CNN of Jim Acosta, the dude who apparently skipped J-school the day they covered "Reporting the news, not making the news."
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