So I don't agree about watching Fox News they have violated Federal Election laws by holding benefits for the Republican Party and they make absolutely no bones about which slant they plan to report their "news". They give microphones to people who are essentially try to incite violent acts against the President and Federal Government entities. So there is no way they will ever get my viewership.

To be honest I don't watch M$M, CNN, or really any Americans news stations. They spend endless hours on topics like Volcanos, celebrity gossip, the weather, ballon boys, etc. Real journalism is mostly dead in this country, newspapers are failing all over the place, most news agencies don't even have it in their budgets to send reporters on Investigative assignments. The view Independent Journalist who have been reporting on news stories I try to catch up their writings and a few magazines that have solid reporting.

bitty41 wrote:The one issue about Fox News that no one ever seems to bring up is that they are owned by a Foreign National (now Naturalized citizen) Rupert Murdoch and this one man dictates nearly an entire half of our country's thinking. Murdoch ownes not just Fox News but also the Wall Street Journal, New York Post and this is just a small portion of the assets he ownes. This is just a personal propaganda vehicle. Think about that for a second now Murdoch is an Australian but what if Murdoch were a Chinese National who purchased an American media conglomerate to espouse the benefits of Communism?

So I don't agree about watching Fox News they have violated Federal Election laws by holding benefits for the Republican Party and they make absolutely no bones about which slant they plan to report their "news". They give microphones to people who are essentially try to incite violent acts against the President and Federal Government entities. So there is no way they will ever get my viewership.

To be honest I don't watch M$M, CNN, or really any Americans news stations. They spend endless hours on topics like Volcanos, celebrity gossip, the weather, ballon boys, etc. Real journalism is mostly dead in this country, newspapers are failing all over the place, most news agencies don't even have it in their budgets to send reporters on Investigative assignments. The view Independent Journalist who have been reporting on news stories I try to catch up their writings and a few magazines that have solid reporting.

I agree, I think journalism is dead and it's all tabloids nowadays. I also think it's important to seek alternative sources and I do the same. I agree with everything you wrote. That being said I also think it's important to understand and listen to "mainstream" news. This is what most people are listening/watching and I want to understand things from others point of view in order to avoid shutting myself into my own little box/world view. If it's important enough for millions of people to pay attention to, then I choose to make myself aware of it, even if my feelings about it are negative. Thus from time to time I watch CNN/Fox and MSNBC to get that perspective.

Allanfan20 wrote:
At this point, Obama deserves to be bashed just as much as Bush. Not defending Fox news, b/c it's a very poor station b/c I don't believe in media bias. However, Obama himself has done a poor job so far, in my opinion and deserves his criticism just like how Bush did.

I agree that criticism and debate about Obama's job performance is great and healthy and I agree with you about Obama's involvement in this disaster for the most part. But thats not the issue with Fox News. Fox News from the start has positioned Obama as this Muslim, Kenyan-born, anti-white racist and socialist that has designs on destroying the American way of life in every way imaginable.

sebstar wrote:

bitty41 wrote:

To be honest I don't watch M$M, CNN, or really any Americans news stations. They spend endless hours on topics like Volcanos, celebrity gossip, the weather, ballon boys, etc. Real journalism is mostly dead in this country, newspapers are failing all over the place, most news agencies don't even have it in their budgets to send reporters on Investigative assignments. The view Independent Journalist who have been reporting on news stories I try to catch up their writings and a few magazines that have solid reporting.

I dont think thats fair. I've seen a lot of examples of fine journalism on both of those stations. I think Anderson Cooper is a HELL of a journalist. Problem is journalism has been poisoned by Fox News specifically. Hard news just doesnt sell for the most part, so there is more of a focus on the superficial shyt. Anyway, whatever holes there are in cable news can be supplemented though the internet.

Definitely agree with you about Anderson Cooper. He's fun and interesting as hell everytime he's on. And yes, there are some good journalists out there. It just sucks that you have to really dig to find them, as opposed to it just being there for you, as it should. It shouldn't be like searching for a gold mine, like Cooper.

bitty41 wrote:

sebstar wrote:

bitty41 wrote:

To be honest I don't watch M$M, CNN, or really any Americans news stations. They spend endless hours on topics like Volcanos, celebrity gossip, the weather, ballon boys, etc. Real journalism is mostly dead in this country, newspapers are failing all over the place, most news agencies don't even have it in their budgets to send reporters on Investigative assignments. The view Independent Journalist who have been reporting on news stories I try to catch up their writings and a few magazines that have solid reporting.

I dont think thats fair. I've seen a lot of examples of fine journalism on both of those stations. I think Anderson Cooper is a HELL of a journalist. Problem is journalism has been poisoned by Fox News specifically. Hard news just doesnt sell for the most part, so there is more of a focus on the superficial shyt. Anyway, whatever holes there are in cable news can be supplemented though the internet.

I never said every journalist on these networks sucks I just that when it comes to New Reporting on a daily basis Network television is usually repetitive or tabloid journalism. Remember the one thing that is important above anything else is money. It does not pay to do in-depth reports on the death and destruction in Iraq/Afghanistan on a daily basis, it does not pay to report on stories from the Congo, Sudan, it does not pay to leave celebrity gossip in it's rightful place, it just does not to report news in any other way than a soundbite or report on non-news. But yes I fully acknowledge that there are some legitimate reporters on these stations but that is far and few between.

I never said that you said all that. I'm just saying that I think you're selling those organizations short by not watching, and passing their coverage off as frivilous.

Anderson Cooper is not some niche cat on at 3:00 in the morning. He's the face of that network and he comes on during prime time. It does stray to popular topics a lil too much, but its a good program. I think CNN as a whole is a good network that takes their role as journalists seriously, while trying to present the news as unbiased as possible. Not trying to pimp, just what I see.

MSNBC is good too, but partisan. Even though it is left-centered, they have 1000x the ethics and intergrity of Fox. I think the Rachel Maddow show is the best on cable for opinion-news.

One of the many things Fox has done to destroy journalism is their notion that interest in international affairs makes one some sort of communist. Hence international coverage is next to non-existent with them and has decreased elsewhere.

Allanfan20 wrote:

sebstar wrote:

bitty41 wrote:

To be honest I don't watch M$M, CNN, or really any Americans news stations. They spend endless hours on topics like Volcanos, celebrity gossip, the weather, ballon boys, etc. Real journalism is mostly dead in this country, newspapers are failing all over the place, most news agencies don't even have it in their budgets to send reporters on Investigative assignments. The view Independent Journalist who have been reporting on news stories I try to catch up their writings and a few magazines that have solid reporting.

I dont think thats fair. I've seen a lot of examples of fine journalism on both of those stations. I think Anderson Cooper is a HELL of a journalist. Problem is journalism has been poisoned by Fox News specifically. Hard news just doesn't sell for the most part, so there is more of a focus on the superficial shyt. Anyway, whatever holes there are in cable news can be supplemented though the internet.

Definitely agree with you about Anderson Cooper. He's fun and interesting as hell every time he's on. And yes, there are some good journalists out there. It just sucks that you have to really dig to find them, as opposed to it just being there for you, as it should. It shouldn't be like searching for a gold mine, like Cooper.

I agree - Cooper is the real deal, he even gets on 60 minutes from time to time and I have a lot of respect for the journalists on that show. It seems like he is from the old school of journalism unlike so many of the sensationalists on tv these days that will do anything to grab some ratings.

Back to the topic - BP hasn't even been able to plug the leaks yet, this is going to be the worst oil catastrophe in history. I drove by the BP station close to my house today and it was full of cars filling up. I am surprised people haven't boycotted purchasing from them. Not that it matters, since all of these companies are the same, but you would think people would take notice. I bet half the people at the pump don't even realize BP is the company handling this mess.

I will explain more when I am home - sitting in an airport about to board a plane right now.

Allanfan20 wrote:

OasisBU wrote:Did anyone watch 60 minutes on Sunday? They had an interview with a guy who was on the rig during the drilling and the explosion - he said a BP manager is at fault for some really poor decision making.

I will explain more when I am home - sitting in an airport about to board a plane right now.

Safe trip.

Thanks man, made it back in 1 piece.

So here is the deal with the 60 Minutes interview:

There is a safety system plugging the well that clamps off using a circular black rubber stopper. From time to time they test the valve by clamping it off. During a test a few weeks before the accident an employee accidentally turned the drill off while it was being held by the rubber stopper (it drilled down 10k-15k feet before it was turned off). Over the next few weeks pieces of black rubber were shooting up on deck (these were pieces of the safety valve).

In addition, a BP manager showed up on the rig and pushed them to drill faster because they were something like 6 weeks over schedule. Drilling faster caused small cracks to form in the well. This was not a problem at the time because the well was full of "fake mud" a chemical filler that the drilling company uses to secure the well. The fake mud holds the pressure of the well down so it does not explode.

In comes Halliburton - their job was to place 3 separate plugs into the well in order to keep the pressure locked down and prevent a leak after the "fake mud" is removed. They placed 2 plugs in and were ready to put the 3rd in when the BP exec chimed in and demanded that the "fake mud" be removed first. This is not standard procedure but it can expedite the process, save time, and time = money.

The problem with this is, they needed to test the well pressure - they do this by clamping it off using the rubber valve that busted weeks ago. Because the valve was broken, any pressure readings would not be accurate - the pressure looked good, the fake mud was removed, and the pressure became unstable (combination of cracks that formed from drilling too fast, removing the mud before the third plug was put in to seal the well, etc).

Warning systems start flashing, they go to activate the safety valve - it doesnt work - and boom the whole rig goes crazy. Natural gas and oil start spewing out, the engines on the rig malfunction from all the gas shooting into them, and the explosions begin.

Meanwhile, the BP execs and a bunch of other people get into the life rafts (ignoring standard procedure for evacuating), leaving 11 people behind on the rig with no life boats. The guy who is telling this story had a gash in his forehead from the explosions, his face was covered in blood, and he had to jump off the rig falling 100 feet into the ocean which was filled with oil and gasoline (not to mention it was on fire).

He lived to tell the story, but you have to wonder why he was left behind since he knew so much...

Maybe that's just paranoia but as you can see, BP is clearly at fault here. The worst part is that there are apparently other rigs out in the gulf that could cause much worse disasters.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/16/60minutes/main6490197.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody

There is the URL to the interview videos if you want to watch - I recommend it.

HOUSTON — The latest effort to plug a gushing underwater oil well in the Gulf of Mexico appeared to be working, officials and engineers said on Thursday morning, though definitive word on its success was still hours away.

Hopeful news...