Eric A. was mostly right, global TV news is an "infotainment" business. Whatever sells, that's legal. It's a business, for profit. And it suffers the same competitive pressures to cut corners on product quality that other businesses do. As little quality as the customers accept, same as McDonalds.

The problem is that so many human journalists want to elevate their work into a moral crusade -- which is not necessarily bad, if the search is for "complete truth", but HAS BECOME bad in the current PC anti-American crusade, any truth that makes America look bad, and barely enough balance to claim balance. The BBC is also full of anti-American hacks, for instance.

Sucking up to dictators for access is OK -- but NOT then claiming to report "the truth". Even when a news org has free movement in a country, and can talk with whoever they like, they can only show a part of the truth. When the parts they show are dictator propaganda, they NEED to at least warn the viewers. [Suggest --"country xx does not allow a free press" in every report]

Here the desire for product "access" instead of truth is particularly galling -- essentially direct support for Saddam. (I wonder if victims of Saddam could try to sue CNN for conspiracy? THAT would get the news agency attention/ behavior change.)

Watch Fox -- for now. But they'll be bad in some ways, too.
(Dean's World