July 31, 2002

5:59 AM

The Emmy nominations are outand the news nominations go to the biggest story, September 11. No surprises there. PBS has 41 nominations and Fox has 0. No surprises there either. Does this say something about the news industry and it's ability to discern serious news from chaff? Is Bill Moyers a national treasure? Do you think perhaps Murdoch should rethink the direction of his media empire?
posted by nofundy (19 comments total)

Do you think perhaps Murdoch should rethink the direction of his media empire?

Because of Emmy nominations?!

Last I heard, ratings defined success. Fox isn't really news, it's personality-driven entertainment.
posted by PrinceValium at 6:14 AM on July 31, 2002

To answer your questions: Yes. Who? No.
posted by insomnyuk at 6:21 AM on July 31, 2002

The "entertainment" part is debatable.
posted by UnReality at 6:21 AM on July 31, 2002

But they don't show the news awards in the primetime broadcast, do they? No red carpet for any of those brainy anchorpeople, no tiaras, no cause-ribbons, no best and worst dressed, and no Joan Rivers commentary. Who cares about the news awards again?
posted by Ufez Jones at 6:32 AM on July 31, 2002

bill moyers is a culture whore.
posted by clavdivs at 6:59 AM on July 31, 2002

Do you think perhaps Murdoch should rethink the direction of his media empire?
Yes. I do.
posted by Fabulon7 at 7:00 AM on July 31, 2002

Is Bill Moyers a national treasure?
Moyers is the divining rod of every pious, pompous, windbaggy meme generated by the former liberal arts major upper-middle class in its quest for easy intellectualization and undemanding spirituality. The sheer infallibility of Moyers attraction to total B.S., and the way he envelops it and claims ownership by restating to the point of tedium it in his mooshy, thin-lipped Unitarian drone, make him a kind of national institution, I suppose. If he's a national treasure, it's only as an example of a peculiar kind of native awfulness, like Liberace, or something.
posted by Faze at 7:03 AM on July 31, 2002

"Nine other networks received three or fewer nominations, though Fox News Channel--currently the most-watched cable news channel--was shut out."

No one ever went broke underestimating something or other blah blah blah...
posted by pracowity at 7:09 AM on July 31, 2002

The reason fox news should not change is because they are quite successful as it is. I'm sure Murdoch cares more about ratings than Emmy's. Hell, he hired Geraldo for crying out loud.
posted by insomnyuk at 7:19 AM on July 31, 2002

Good gravy. The "regular" Emmys are noted for their staggering myopia and irrelevance; we're talking about a serious "Who cares?" factor to begin with. When you get to the News Emmys, the "Whafuck?" pool of interest shrinks dramatically. These are basically industry awards, ignored by everyone who isn't nearly directly involved. They're about as important as the soap opera awards or your nearest World's Best Dad coffee mug.
posted by Skot at 7:57 AM on July 31, 2002

wow, what's with all the vitriol getting spewed here? i expected comments that discussed some of the fine news programs and documentaries that PBS and others had to offer rather than glib pronouncements about Murdoch's ability to produce ratings over quality. yikes.
posted by gwint at 8:17 AM on July 31, 2002

My 'glib pronouncement' was really just a stating of the facts. My opinion of Fox News is that it is in general low quality. However, Fox News pulls in good ratings, so Murdoch would be stupid to change a winning formula, in that regard. This says nothing about the importance of quality, except when it comes to the tastes of the American viewer.
posted by insomnyuk at 8:55 AM on July 31, 2002

PBS is the only TV news that isn't 98% garbage. Maybe they are nominated because they'll spend more than 30 seconds on a serious news story.

Faze: Really, is there any spirituality less demanding than christianity? Jesus is practically the fox news mascot.
posted by troybob at 9:05 AM on July 31, 2002

Hey, there was nothing in Al Capone's vault, but it wasn't Geraldo's fault.

(Bonus points for those of you who spotted the reference.)

What? No nominations for Bill O'Reilly? These awards are a travesty, I tells ya! A travesty!
posted by UKnowForKids at 9:15 AM on July 31, 2002

Really, is there any spirituality less demanding than christianity? Jesus is practically the fox news mascot.

It depends which flavor you pick. Many American 'christians' are no different from the rest of the driveling new age self help spiritualists that you can find on any bookstore shelf.
posted by insomnyuk at 9:30 AM on July 31, 2002

Oh well. No real discussion of the underlying matters of television news I guess. Let me try and summarize what I'm hearing form you guys:
great news shows = lots of awards and no public interest
lousy news shows = lots of public interest and no awards

You may be right but I have higher hopes for the sheep citizens of this country than believe the choose to rely on a steady diet of "entertainment news." Perhaps that's too optimistic of me considering what passes for entertainment on TV (Survivor, etc.)
posted by nofundy at 9:37 AM on July 31, 2002

"Hey, there was nothing in Al Capone's vault, but it wasn't Geraldo's fault"

Baby, on board...
posted by stifford at 10:04 AM on July 31, 2002

[FoxNews is] currently the most-watched cable news channel

is that saying much? i mean, are there only 15 people watching cable news, with 8 of them watching FoxNews? how do cable news channels stack up in the rating overall, anyway?


and bloody hell, Buffy was completely snubbed in all the news catagories.
posted by tolkhan at 10:17 AM on July 31, 2002

Bill Moyer's show is one of the very few American news programs I can watch without feeling the urge to hurl heavy things at the tv screen.
posted by muckster at 1:15 PM on July 31, 2002