I disagree with Oliver Willis that CNN should become a liberal Fox News. Nope, what we really need is a bad-ass, take-no-prisoners, Joe-Friday-just-the-facts-ma’am, let-the-chips-fall-where-they-may, old time Woodward-‘n-Bernstein, [insert cliché here] real investigative journalism channel. And no John Stossel/Geraldo creeps, either; we want the real G’s: Sy Hersh, Kevin Sites, the entire production team of Frontline (tremendous, tough show), etc. It’s time for the comeback of hard-nosed, courageous journalism.
And I’ll bet it would get terrific ratings. Is there not enough scandal going on for everyone these days? The truth is the most provocative thing of all.
I don’t need a liberal channel. Since the truth has a liberal bias, after all, I’ll settle for a truth channel.
True enough. My greatest sorrow is that Bill Moyers is leaving “Now” and that the show will be cut to a half hour.
Nobody beyond true believers will watch such a thing. I like Frontline, a lot. That isn’t what people want.
Oliver’s probably right that no one will watch Frontline even if it moves to CNN. But they might watch something that’s Frontline-ish in content but Fox News/PrimeTime Live-ish in presentation. Part of TV is entertainment, and Frontline is too PBS to gain a large audience. Someone has to figure out how to do serious investigative journalism AND produce an entertaining show.
Well, 60 Minutes has been among the top-rated shows for what, 36 years now?See, I don’t think people actually know what they want. But I think that packaged correctly and provocatively, a news organization known for tough, muckraking reporting would accomplish all of our goals. No, PBS is decidedly not our marketing or production model. But the reporting is.
Nobody beyond true believers will watch such a thing. I like Frontline, a lot. That isn’t what people want.