Questions of the weekend..
1) What was the most over-reported story in cable news in 2006?
2) What was the most under-reported story in cable news in 2006?
December 30, 2006
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Most over-reported: Any Republican Scandal, i.e., Abramof, Libby, etc. Weather-related stories - back in the old days, weather just happened. Warning people of bad weather is one thing but obsessing about it is another. Global warming. Brittany Spears, Paris Hilton…, bad news in Iraq.
Most under-reported: Any Democratic Scandal, i.e., Harry Reid, the guy with the $90,000 in his freezer, any good news in Iraq; Joe Wilson’s fabrications; Nancy Pelosi’s extravagances for her inaguration as Speaker…
Comment by sophia — December 30, 2006 @ 1:47 pm
How about Natalie Holloway. Was that this year?
As for Sophia’s comment scandals involving the party in power generally make more news than the party which is not in power. Maybe its because the party in power actually runs (or not and in more cases not with this Congress and administration) the government.
Comment by BlogThat — December 30, 2006 @ 1:56 pm
#1 How the Dem’s will save America #2 How the press lied.
Comment by mike — December 30, 2006 @ 2:00 pm
Dobermann
How good the economy really is.
Comment by Lurker — December 30, 2006 @ 2:03 pm
Over reported: The Duke scandal. It just shows how big a whore our media is.
Under reported: Any vote on a congressional bill. Cable outlets have 24 hours of air time to fill and yet seemingly always miss out on the basics of Democracy. Not once have I seen them try to cover it in depth (i.e. sponsors, what factions pushing it, how they’re whipping up votes, which special interest group wrote the bill etc.) instead cablers spend hours on Amber Alerts or the next faux overblown story.
A close second is presidential candidates for 2008. I can’t believe how stupid these people are to cover this crap now. They are actually reporting on polls when in every other presidential race, polls two years out were nothing like what eventually happened.
Comment by Steve — December 30, 2006 @ 2:06 pm
A close second for ever reported I mean.
Comment by Steve — December 30, 2006 @ 2:07 pm
Over - Celeb “news”. i.e. Brittey, Paris, Nicole, Rosie etc. etc. ad infinitum, ad nauseum.
Under - I’ll agree with Steve. And report this with facts, not the opinions of the usual panel of alleged experts.
Comment by Grampa D — December 30, 2006 @ 2:28 pm
Over-reported: ANYTHING related to a celebrity or the Duke scandal.
Under-reported… hmmmm, not sure. Sudan?
Comment by Brent — December 30, 2006 @ 2:35 pm
Over - John Karr’s ‘confession’. This guy had psychopathic false confessor written all over him, but everyone wanted so badly to believe…
Under - continuous, ongoing slaughter of innocents in Darfur. Alas, they are the wrong color to care about. Sucks to be them.
Comment by Arthur — December 30, 2006 @ 2:39 pm
Over-reported: Any story that’s talked about ad nauseam without new information.
Under-reported: Catholic pedophile priests’ and what exactly is going on with this religion.
Comment by Terance — December 30, 2006 @ 2:41 pm
Over reported: John Mark Karr and any celeb who behaved badly
Under reported: International news in general.
Comment by Anon — December 30, 2006 @ 2:50 pm
Over-reported: Barack Obama, John Mark Karr, Duke rape, the CIA leak case
Under-reported: Harry Reid scandal, Dems involvement in holding info and shopping the Mark Foley case to media, the truth about the CIA leak case and Joe Wilson’s lies
Comment by bigred — December 30, 2006 @ 2:57 pm
Overreported - Keith Olbermann’s ratings “success”. His ratings may have risen from the sewer to the toilet, but it’s still a turd.
Underreported - Liberal media’s effect on the Nov election. MSM basically guaranteed Democratic victory by protecting their candidates and attacking the Republicans. Then they spent a couple weeks celebrating their victory. But anytime someone brings up liberal bias in the media, they scoff. We have the media keeping tabs on the politicians, but we need more people keeping tabs on the media.
Comment by TBDave — December 30, 2006 @ 4:03 pm
Most over-covered stories:
1.John Mark Carr//JonBenet Ramsey story
2.Joe Wilson/Valerie Plame/Scooter Libby
3. Mark Foley “scandal.”
4. Global Warming
5. Michael Richards
Under Covered:
1. The progress in Iraq.
2. Sandy Berger’s swiping secret documents.
3. The strong economy.
4. The recovery from Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma from places other than New Orleans.
Comment by Ira — December 30, 2006 @ 5:42 pm
And let me shock my good friend Terance by adding the “War On Christmas” to the “over covered” category.
Comment by Ira — December 30, 2006 @ 5:49 pm
Spud, good question. And everyone has offered very good examples of what could be considered under- or over-reported stories.
But back to the Duke case. It IS an important story. Just think about it - rape is one of the most heinous crimes that can be carried out, and these three kids were accused of it with virtually no substantiation or evidence. A prostitute decided to claim that she was raped, and the D.A. went full speed ahead with the case, without interviewing the “victim”, without finding any evidence whatsoever to support her claims, and without any forensic evidence to support her charges. And the exculpatory evidence that was found was not shared with the defense!
The case is important because it shows that anyone can be charged with ANY crime, whether evidence is present or not. I had no idea that any case could progress so far with basically no evidence of an actual crime, and that a D.A. has so much power to make charges without any evidence.
It now looks like other prosecutors in North Carolina are looking to have Mike Nifong removed from his position. Let’s hope so, and let’s hope other prosecutors see what will happen once they try to go prosecute people when either little or no evidence of a crime exists.
Comment by Missy — December 30, 2006 @ 5:51 pm
#1, really? Your kidding me, right?
Lets see, the most over-reported story this year would have had to be the Duke case, which always seemed to have too many falsehoods to even be considered true IMO, not to mention every celeb story followed this year (including the two yelling old women)
The least? I would have liked to heard more about what exactly was happening in New Orleans in progress towards a more normal city, in addition to possibly more coverage of the war, in BOTH good and bad stories.
Still, I would be happy if 2006 can be labeled the Celeb/Crime year and we could be done with it, though I know that’s just a dream since Greta, Grace, and all the other legal nuts will still be on television talking up stories
Comment by Chris — December 30, 2006 @ 8:41 pm
Under-reported: Insufficient stories on the candy that is being distributed to children in Iraq and other similar indications of “progress” in Iraq.
Over-reported: The false illusion that Saddam’s death somehow makes the billions of dollars wasted, the loss of life and limb, and the resulting chaos worth it; especially when one considers that Iraq will eventually be run by a council of Mullahs who will want nukes, who will want to support Hezbollah, who will want to kill and torture their political enemies and who will still hate America.
Comment by elmonica — December 30, 2006 @ 8:46 pm
(1) Most over-reported: Anything about a celebrity or pseudo-celebrity (i.e. Karr).
(2) Most under-reported: The Holocaust in Dufar and the resurrgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan
Comment by asr — December 30, 2006 @ 9:33 pm
#1 - Pundits, Pundits Everywhere! Get to the news but anyways anything tabloid which is invading the news. Also The apparent “liberal media” but only one network worries about coming up with stories on that… Gay Marriage, just a distraction.
#2 - The huge spending sprees by the American Government. Iraqi casualties.
Comment by Mike Beckham — December 30, 2006 @ 11:49 pm
Over: Every amber alert and every blonde girl lost. And a every celebrity news.
Under: Somalia, Darfur, US casualities in Iraq, Afganistan, Palestine.
Comment by Rodrigo — December 31, 2006 @ 12:02 am
If anyone watched Fox News Watch this weekend, they definitely hit the nail on the head with the news stories over spoken and the ones that were either weakly, or not, covered.
Comment by Chris — December 31, 2006 @ 3:36 am
Anything to do with politics, particularly the snipings from the Democrats, takes the cake for over-reporting.
On the other hand, the strong economy did not resonate as well as it should have done. The Clinton machine of course, with its spin machine, was not at work here.
Comment by RGL — December 31, 2006 @ 7:00 am
Over Reported; How good Democrats were & how bad Republicans were.
Under Reported; How good the republicans were, and how bad the Democrats were.
Comment by Trevnoc — December 31, 2006 @ 3:39 pm
Over-reported: Duke rape, Foley, Anna Nicole, Britney.
UNDER-Reported : The hiding of The Barrett Report, Harry Reed scandals, Congressman Mollahan, Darfur.
Comment by spiffo — December 31, 2006 @ 5:17 pm
Also Under-reported : Our Great economy, Sandy Berger’s magic pants and why he did it, John Murtha’s shady dealings, and Blanco & Nagin’s leading role in the Katrina debacle.
Comment by spiffo — December 31, 2006 @ 6:43 pm
weather
Comment by hmmm — April 20, 2007 @ 10:26 am