It's Only News If A Famous Person Tells You It's News

by Dick Mac

With the entry of News Corporation into the American broadcast market two decades ago, the quality of news reporting, once referred to as broadcast journalism, has plummeted. Television news is now so bad, on every network, that it bears little resemblance to the informational, analytical presentations of televised information that we so enjoyed until the Reagan era.

I was always a bit miffed that Barbara Walters was considered a sophisticated news anchor; but, compared to current trends in television news, she is an intellectual giant.

Yesterday, CBS News finally removed Walter Cronkite's voice from its evening news opening voice-over, and replaced it with the voice of Morgan Freeman.

Freeman joins movie star Michael Douglas and Dirty Jobs host Mike Rowe as the voicec-over talent for a major network's news hour opening, which led Marketplace Morning Report Host Bill Radke to quip: "It's not news unless a famous person tells you it's news."

Touche!