Sadly, the number one "news" program for most Americans is Entertainment Tonight. That said, I tried an experiment a couple of years back. We turned off the cable and the television all together. In it's place, I played NPR almost non-stop at home all day everyday. Dinner conversations were about worldly issues. The boys were doing better than they ever had in their history and civics classes. My wife actually had political conversations with people over things she finally understood. Our Saturday ritual was to listen to Click and Clack on Car Talk and on Sunday it was A Prairie Home Companion and The Vinyl Cafe.
Now jump ahead two years, the kids are back to X-Box, the wife watches Rachel Ray, the kid's at least watch PBS Kids. The dinner conversations aren't as substantive and the teachers now wonder what happened to the well informed kids they had a couple of years back. I still rebel, yes I have my network shows, but I still have to get my BBC News fix in and I am always watching the History Channel. I still have my NPR and watch Tavis Smiley and Charlie Rose nightly.
Yes, you get more from the BBC News because the BBC will never play the "news for the masses" game and lead a broadcast with a story on Lindsay Lohan's latest rehab adventure or Paris Hilton's latest clubbing disaster. A great number of Americans have become sheepo which is why Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Phil hold more sway over the public than Maya Angelou or Stephen Hawking. I am not saying Oprah and Doc are stupid, quite the opposite, but they are not fostering others in the US to become as smart. What does it say when the Queen of All Media opens a school for gifted girls in South Africa? We don't have gifted girls in the US? OH YEAH! Oprah turned them into fashionistas with no real news knowledge.
And to think Ms. Winfrey started her career as a hard hitting news reporter in Chicago. Where did you stray from the path Oprah?