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Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media

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Jeff Cohen's new book Cable News Confidential offers readers a rare behind the scenes look at the 24 hour cable news world. Cohen describes his experiences at CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC. He offers many personal stories, which were always engaging and often quite humorous. They painted a clear picture of how conservatives control and frame the news we see on cable. While I have read many other books on this subject, I have never seen a book that offers as many crisp, clear examples of the way today's cable news industry operates.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in the news media, politics, or the future of our country.

Jeff Cohen, founder of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) had some faith in the budding, at the time, cable news. It was, he felt, a phenomenon that could take the place of that joke which we colloquially refer to as TV news. He was surprised.

As a little background, I won't allow television news on in my house. Long, long ago I was a television addict; that's what I used to keep myself occupied in my lonely days in high school. However, the summer before I was a senior in high school I was in a nearly fatal automobile accident which kept me in the hospital for some time. While there, I had little to do but watch television. Like a bad hangover can cure a potential drunk, being forced to watch the idiot box convinced me that the television is an idiot's medium. So I've sworn off it.

In Cohen's case, he was an ACLU attorney. He was disillusioned with what he saw as a right-leaning medium. When "cable news" came about, CNN, the pioneer, offered him a job.

Now, I don't want to go into details of Cohen's life then. Read the book if you want to find out about that. But he opened my eyes to a few things. First of all, while I've never been a CNN fan, it seemed better that Faux. ANYTHING is better than Faux, right? That's why I was surprised that Faux was not first on Cohen's list. But Cohen admits early in the book that Faux didn't start the rightward swing, but the pioneer, CNN did. Cohen pointed out that all his tenure at CNN consisted of was the shouting matches. It's drama so it sells...

The 2nd section of the book is on Faux, for which Cohen worked for 5 years. (!) His witty descriptions of his time there include, of course, his run-ins with o'leilly. In fact, I appreciate his description of Billow, that o'leilly is a good debater, but ill-prepared, for example, and that o'leilly really does see himself as the little guy taking on the big, bad "liberal" monster. That o'leilly is grandly deluded is not a surprise to anyone, I suppose, but it's interesting to hear it from someone who worked so closely with him.

Another interesting tidbit of Jeff's tenure with Faux is that he was to debate the Grande Dame of shock jocks, Ann Coulter, but, despite Jeff's extensive preparation for the experience, Coulter wouldn't appear with him! That demonstrates what I've always believed of Coulter, that she has no guts, just the right lines for the audience she knows all too well.

Then onto MSNBC. Now, I'm an Olbermann fan. I don't watch him on the tube but I do tune into his web page frequently as I think he as something intelligent to say. (And I can tell he does as the "right" despises him!) So I was surprised to hear of their, for a start, gutlessness. Cohen took a job with them as he was happy that MSNBC was hiring Phil Donahue. Indeed, Cohen was Donahue's producer. But even those "liberals" who tuned into Donahue did so less. It seems MSNBC's management was telling Donahue that he's too far left, that your flag waving "silent majority" was, in their focus groups, rather turned off to him. Cohen's role was dwindling too; he was limited in how he was allowed to help Donahue prepare.

Cohen was game to how Rupert Murdoch, Faux's owner and grandfather of right wing radio, was making headway. He focused on a particulary demographic. He wasn't going to appeal to everyone, but Faux knew the type to whom, say, o'leilly appealed. And to them, Faux sold. But MSNBC wasn't interested. So eventually, Donahue lost his job as he was perceived as too "anti-war."

The focus of the book, alas, is that cable news is hopelessly "corporate." War sells, as do shark attacks and alleged kidnappings. Cohen would have a shouting match with someone and the stations' staffs would comment on how good it looked, without so much as a syllable on the content.

Yes, there is a lot of cynicism focused on the media today. The "right" claims that the media have a hopelessly "liberal bias." Cohen not only challenges that, but shows that the cable networks in particular are centered on the almighty buck. So they go for the drama, the show, rather than on any substance.

There is a word of optimism at the end of the book, though. There are alternatives developing. So those of us completely disillusioned with cable noise can begin to tune into those alternatives, many of which Cohen lists.

If you're expecting a dry dissertation with refernces up the wahzoo, this may not be your cup of tea. But if you want an insider's story, a broad outline of why the media are getting as bad as they are, I recommend this witty milestone.

An excellent insight into the inner workings of cable news. I had no prior understanding of the increadable bias that exists on cable TV news. I highly recomment this book!!!!

A big thanks to Jeff Cohen for confirming that I'm not crazy. He "found inside cable news was a drunken exuberance for sex, crime and celebrity stories, matched by a grim timidity and fear of offending the powers-that-be -- especially if the powers-that-be are conservatives. The biggest fear is of doing anything that could get you, or your network, accused of being liberal." If you keep in mind, it's not news (never was), then it makes it easier to swallow. After reading Cohen's account, you realize that Walter Conkrite would never get hired today in the face of fools like Chris Matthews, Sean Hannity, and Biff O'Really.

I really enjoyed reading this book, and highly recommend it to everyone...especially people who don't really understand what a joke this all is..and how it became to be such a complete farce and and absolute threat to Democracy and so many other things sane human beings 'round these parts cherish.

This is an important addition to the equivalent of taking the red pill in The Matrix. Take this and a little Noam Chomsky and you will develop a healthy skepticism about what passes for our fourth estate. You might also get an idea why we can't seem to get our $#!t together. Then again ignorance is bliss, right?

This book is a must read for anyone interested in the changing arena of journalism and one man's experiences with corporate journalism.

A good look from the inside. We all know the shows are stacked with conservative talking heads, but it's easy to fool the uninformed. They might say the guy is from the Kato Institute, and even that they are libertarian, but the average guy doesn't know what that means. They don't teach the politics of the left and right in high school. They should have to disclose where the think tank gets it's money.

I appreciated the fact that Jeff has extensive experience at all three cable news networks, and that he doesn't hold back to share his experiences. It's a must read for those who are fed up with the manipulation of the news my corporate America, and those who want firepower to back up their assertions that things are indeed bleak when it comes to the news equaling the truth.

A good read. Although the book felt a little short - I guess I'm used to novels - Cohen does get through his points without a lot of extra, unneeded pages. Some good anecdotes and references, and kept the story going at a good pace. You probably won't read this cover to cover in one sitting, but it still works read over a period of time.