I'm somewhat reluctant to inject a note of partisan rancor amidst the loving tribute diaries regarding the passing of Nelson Mandela.
But I can't help pointing out what I'm seeing on the cable news channels this evening.
As far as I can tell so far, MSNBC and CNN have discarded their planned programs to devote the entirety of their programming this evening to the death of this titanic figure. I'm only watching one television, so I can't say that with certainty. Rachel Maddow in particular had a beautiful tribute with lots of facts and images that were either gathered in a frenzy this afternoon or planned for in anticipation of this event, or probably both.
At the end of her show, I learned that all five living US presidents are expected to attend the great man's funeral or whatever the event will be, health willing.
Meanwhile, Fox News has relegated coverage of this historic loss to the running chyron, while the talking heads rail on beating the dead horse of the ACA "failure," and things like the new scandal about the quarterback accused of rape who also happens to be black. Hannity gave a 5 second mention at the top of the show before rushing on to his sophomoric propaganda.
The other networks pivoted 180 degrees to cover the actual news.
I know this isn't much of a diary, and I fully realize that sounding the alarm about biased reporting at Fox is not informative. But sometimes these people just piss me off so much. I suspect they wouldn't even bother with the chyron if they weren't aware of how out of step they are with the rest of the world.