General Discussion

…who cheer them wildly and laugh uproariously and groan aloud. Their audiences are fans, looking to be entertained above all.

Yes, I like Kimmel and Colbert. Yes, what happened to them was symptomatic of the authoritarian crackdown on humor and mockery of Dear Leader.

But when was the last time you or anyone else sat down in front of your tv for the news, and proceeded to chant the newscaster’s name as they came on? And cheered wildly as they announced whatever was going to be discussed by the panel? And groaned in unison as trump’s latest folly was mentioned?

Black or white or (increasingly) of Asian Indian descent —. Is that how we relate to them? As mass entertainment? Cheering our team on? Wearing team caps and T-shirts?

The OP makes a good point — but heads off in the wrong direction by calling the audience response hypocritical. It’s not all the same audience, not all there for the same purpose. The only thing they have in common is that their time blocks are ratings-driven by the corporate overlords.

Back when there were only 3 tv stations and cable hadn’t even been thought of, it was easy to agree that the news dept was sacrosanct, with a wall of separation between news and the more profane sports and soap operas. Lucy Ricardo and Walter Cronkite never met, much less competed with each other for ratings. CNN and MSNBC — all talking heads, all the time, all competing for the same eyeballs and the same ratings.

We have a problem, all right, and it’s huge. There’s definitely a race problem in the “news” delivery and commentary, but even more so the consolidation and monopolization of entire unrelated industries. I mean Disney? wth?