Post by Odysseus on Nov 24, 2020 17:42:36 GMT
I usually try to catch the network evening news, American style, every day. After all, it's only 30 minutes, so not a big commitment.
However what I've been getting rankled about is not the content, but the proliferation of commercial breaks.
Seems like one can rely only on the first 10 minutes of the half-hour being news and not shilling for this or that. After that, it seems like the news will return for maybe a minute or two, and then again more commercials. I haven't timed it yet, but I would not be surprised if at least 50% of network evening news shows is commercial shilling for stuff I don't give a shit about.
In contrast, I can watch news shows from the BBC, Germany (Deutch World), and France (France 24) on my local PBS stations with just breaks before and after the news content. It is far more satisfying, although granted the news is presented from a foreign perspective which may or may not be one's cup of tea. There are also American produced educational news shows, but these tend to be relatively amateurish and outdated by the time they air.
Do I have a solution? Nope. Other than the mute button, not a lot one can do. Perhaps in future I'll just watch the first 10 minutes or so of network evening news and then shut the damn thing off at the first commercial break.
