I was thinking the other day: man it would be cool if George Soros or someone pulled a Rupert Murdock and started a new Cable News Channel, this time with a Liberal/Progressive leaning. We could have shows hosted by Keith Olberman and Jack Cafferty and others. The News could be reported without the truth having to be balanced by Republican falshoods. Imagine a roundtable with a couple reporters, a couple Democrats, and perhaps one Republican if they feel like it. Then I thought more about it. Would it work?
People already think the media slants left, even though it doesn't. Would this just be icing on the cake for Republicans? They already have their own News Channel, for goodness sake!
Media Matters does a great job trying to keep up with all the imbalences spewed by professionals that should know better.
Would Democrats watch it? Most watch CNN for its reputaion of being neutral. It appears neutral on the surface, but they are guilty of frequently "balencing" the facts with Republican lies when the facts shine a bad light on the President. There are plenty of diary entries about this, but the best of course is here.
Other Democrats watch MSNBC. I think MSNBC is more dangerous than FOX because it has so called neutral reporters that are really republican, like Chris Matthews. Tim Russert presents himself as a hard hitter yet lets blatant falsehoods go unchallenged all the time on his shows. Not to mention the "Got Ya" quotes and little wipy board.
Anyway back to NDN, or National Democtratic News, my fictional News station. Would you watch it? I bet most Kossacks would, but would other Democrats? What would make them switch from "The most trusted name in News"? An easy way to make NDN a great channel would be to emulate BBC and CNN International, adding some Democrats to comment. But would Americans watch it?