A brief change in the political scenery
I will admit that, given the smorgasbord of choices, consumption of the admittedly conservative Fox News channel gets only 10 to 15 percent of my viewing time during a normal week. I try to give some time to other outlets such as CNN, Bloomberg News and C-SPAN. MSNBC garners the larger plurality of my viewing time.
The Olympics being carried by all of the NBC outlets has limited my MSNBC time, and Fox News has filled the void created by archery and ping pong. It has meant mixing news from the left end of the political spectrum with news from the right side of politics with a smattering of the Olympics thrown in for good measure.
Take one recent day as an example. If one had risen early enough they would have been front and center when the July jobs report hit the streets. There were 163,000 new jobs created, which was good news, but unemployment rose to 8.3 percent from 8.2 percent. This news prompted cheers and a rosy analysis all around by the primarily moderate-to-liberal Democratic-leaning “experts” populating MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” telecast. The jobs were double the number created during the previous month. The spin on the 8.3 percent stretched credulity somewhat as the slight up tick was viewed as good news indicating a return of people to the job search. Yes, I know — raised eyebrows all around. At any rate, as 8 a.m. arrived, instead of having these assumptions reinforced, the Olympics took center stage and who would want to miss the dressage competition?
Marty Wiseman
MBJ
8/15/12
Magnolia Tribune
