No News Is Bad News

Arianna has an interesting post up about blogs expanding the news cycle. But what I found most astonishing were these statistics:

Here are the number of news segments that mention these stories: (from a search of the main news networks’ transcripts from May 1-June 20).

* ABC News: “Downing Street Memo”: 0 segments; “Natalee Holloway”: 42 segments; “Michael Jackson”: 121 segments.
* CBS News: “Downing Street Memo”: 0 segments; “Natalee Holloway”: 70 segments; “Michael Jackson”: 235 segments.
* NBC News: “Downing Street Memo”: 6 segments; “Natalee Holloway”: 62 segments; “Michael Jackson”: 109 segments.
* CNN: “Downing Street Memo”: 30 segments; “Natalee Holloway”: 294 segments; “Michael Jackson”: 633 segments.
* Fox News: “Downing Street Memo”: 10 segments; “Natalee Holloway”: 148 segments; Michael Jackson”: 286 segments.
* MSNBC: “Downing Street Memo”: 10 segments; “Natalee Holloway”: 30 segments; “Michael Jackson”: 106 segments.

Wow. Is anyone in denial that cable news is just an arm of the entertainment industrial complex? Arianna suggests that we tune out all these non-stories the minute they come on. I’m actually giving up altogether. I can’t find anything to watch on cable news anymore. And I’m a news junkie.

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