I work early (sometimes 5AM, sometimes 6AM) so I get to see the morning shows. The one on Fox is unbearable. The one on CNN isn't much better. The one on MSNBC is both entertaining and informative and there's no shouting. They actually get people from the NBC (network) News crew to show up (David Gregory, host of Meet the Press, Nora O'Donnell). Recently, I've been working at home half time and getting to see the Savannah Guthrie / Chuck Todd show and it's decent. They're both well connected and knowledgeable. Chris Jansing used to be an actual news person. I met her in person outside the court house in Vegas when I was doing jury duty and she was there to cover the OJ trial. Contrast to having a set / stage that she now has and does a show from there. On the weekends, MSNBC is a mix of several hours of real live news followed by terrible documentaries. I guess when they're not making much money doing the news thing, they save money by not having to pay people showing those documentaries (and reruns of those same documentaries). When Olbermann is on MSNBC, Fox has someone like Hannity or O'Reilly on, and CNN is doing Lindsay Lohan 24/7 (even on Anderson Cooper's show) so I watch a science channel show on the DVR instead.
Special Report with Brett Baier is an actual news show, though they have a round table the last 15 minutes. Fox Report with Shepard Smith is outstanding and all news. America's News HQ is a news program. Weekends only. Fox News Watch is a news program centered around covering the media itself. War Stories with Oliver North, believe it or not, is downright amazing. I think I've seen him a few dozen times reporting from Iraq and under fire as an actual reporter. The show is a quality documentary every week about some historical battle or about tanks or drone airplanes and that sort of thing. Shepard Smith: Bill Hemmer: Jane Skinner: Molly Henneberg: Adam Housely: Brett Baier: Jennifer Griffin: (A recent breast cancer survivor and a reporter from various places in the middle east) There's quite a few more.
I must admit I actually watched Hannity last night. He had a full hour interview with GW Bush about his book and other things about his presidency. Bush seemed quite at ease, and was thoughtful and rather articulate. A very different person than we saw as president. Certainly being interviewed by a guy willing to throw him softballs helped. I'm pretty sure we'll be seeing Bush on quite a few other outlets, where the interviewer is far less friendly toward him. It'll be interesting to see how he handles it. Anyhow....
It's what you do when your rock bottom ratings go even lower, I guess. Not a very principled person among the bunch.
