MSNBC coverage of Anna Nicole Smith Hearing is Exhibit A of what they deem important....

[Blackhatjack]

If we move troops to the border with Iran, and Bush says he is 'going to do something', do you think they could actually cover that story?

Or is arguing lawyers in an Anna Nicole Smith hearing more important?

You see their choice.

[Swede]

1. It's called ratings.

Sad,but true.

[Horse with no Name]

2. And today

He basically said he was going to send more troops to Afghanistan.
He can't get more troops for Iraq because American people will come unglued...he needs them in the region...so he is going to surge his 20k troops to Iraq and then build up in Afghanistan. He needs them in the region. That is the only way he can do it.
And as I mentioned, who is going to stop him?

[hippiechick]

4. Exactly.

Dems have been wailing against the 'Surge' saying that troops are needed in Afghanistan.
So what Dimson is going to do, is move 20k 'new troops' into Afghanistan, and then move 20k out of Afghanistan and into next-door Iraq.

Lame ass shell game, and nobody's gonna call him on it.

[MonkeyFunk]

3. That's the big flaw in understanding....

the cable nets don't exist to tell us what's important. They're there to get to people to watch.

I guarantee you more people are watching this than if they were doing an in-depth report on troop movements in the Middle East.

[gratuitous]

5. Well, it's not like they have any obligation

I mean, come on, when you're using the public's airwaves, it's important to analyze the death of a woman who liked to be naked in front of cameras with every resource at your disposal. It's not like they have any obligation to work a little harder, do a little more, and present a balanced diet of information. Kids like candy, so give 'em candy!

Then the talking heads can do another story about how fat the kids are, how they don't have good eating habits, and how the kids of the candy kids are doing even worse. Then pick up your six-figure paycheck, have the limo take you home, and ask the chef to prepare your evening repast, blissfully and willfully ignorant of any connections between any of it.

[MonkeyFunk]

6. MSNBC

doesn't use the public airwaves.

[onenote]

10. actually, in a sense, they do

While cable systems don't use the airwaves to deliver content from their headends to subscribers (because they deliver their signals over a closed medium), much of the programming they deliver is obtained by them via satellite feeds that using transponders and frequencies in accordance with authorizations received from the FCC. However, while MSNBC (and CNN and ESPN etc etc etc) use these transponders and frequencies, the authorization for their use actually is obtained, I believe, by the entity that owns the satellite -- that entity merely leases the authorized transponder space.

I think this is correct, but am open to someone adding additional info if I've misstated anything.

[onenote]

7. what they deem important? Or what people are interested in?

I think its the latter that dictates their editiorial choices rather than the other way around.

[Norquist Nemesis]

8. Must be their best alternative to all-things-Bush

:shrug:

[BuelahWitch]

9. But but but her body is decomposing in the freezer!

What could be more important that that? :shrug:

[Horse with no Name]

11. There was a question asked yesterday about this that stopped me in my tracks

"What condition is her body in how"?
Ack...that isn't something I really want to know right now. A week after she has died.:puke:

[BuelahWitch]

13. I just hope there won't be pics

:scared:

[Catherine Vincent]

12. Well, Rita Crosby needed something to do.

[Horse with no Name]

14. Her job description has expanded

She now covers Missing AND Dead pretty white women.