TV News is as bad as you thought...

...or at least veteran news person John Hockenberry thinks so -- and illuminates several examples of NBC at its worst in a seven page story in the current issue of
Technology Review.

Hockenberry, winner of four Emmy awards; three Peabody Awards; an Edward R. Murrow Award and a Casey Medal, offers a glimpse into nine years at Dateline NBC (You know "News stories about crime, celebrity and health").

[Television news] reassured the audience by telling it what it already knew rather than challenging it to learn. This explains why TV news voices all use similar cadences, why all anchors seem to sound alike, why reporters in the field all use the identical tone of urgency no matter whether the story is about the devastating aftermath of an earthquake or someone's lost kitty.

[Link - Technology Review] - from PRWatch.org