By Mitch Perry
PoHo correspondent
Mitch Perry is the anchor of the WMNF Evening News on 88.5 FM community radio.

Legendary television anchorman Walter Cronkite’s death on Friday at the age of 92 has prompted massive encomiums on his career and how no one figure could ever dominate mass communications like “Uncle Walter” did in the ’60s and ’70s. It also allows us to ponder the state of national television news.

In the immediate days (and weeks) after Michael Jackson’s death last month, America’s broadcast and cable news networks went — predictably — hog wild over the pop superstar’s death. They saw their ratings rise, while also receiving criticism from a lot of quarters that they were overdoing it.

But were you really surprised?

Pardon the expression, but haven’t we seen this movie, err, blanket news coverage before?

Can you say Anna Nicole Smith?  Ronald Reagan? Princess Diana anybody?

Each of these personalities of course was quite different in terms of their significance on the body politic. But then, other than to her friends and family, what significance did the late Natalee Holloway fall have on you?

The fact of the matter is Fox and MSNBC over the years have devolved since their creation in the mid 1990’s from offering cable news to being mostly presenting a shred of news but mostly analysis. They do a solid job of covering the White House and national politics, albeit from a distinct ideological perspective. But they don’t deliver much hard news.

CNN, unfortunately, has become the last, best hope for Americans who crave straight up news reportage. They definitely deliver more of the goods, particularly on international stories. But that’s not really saying a whole lot.

Michael Jackson’s career was legendary. In terms of his vast talents, however, he peaked in the early 1990’s. The past 15 years were were mired in scandal and bizarre excess that easily made him an international punch line.

But his death was a shock, and so it shouldn’t have been any surprise that the coverage was extensive. In U.S., and throughout the world even, most people categorized as post Baby Boomers had lots of stories to share with their friends about their own experiences listening to Michael Jackson’s music (mostly of course, in the 1970s and ’80s).

But when the coverage continued long past the first long weekend of his death, some people became upset and angry at the cable news networks.

Some, like conservative media critic Brent Bozell, cited the deaths of 7 U.S. soldiers killed in Afghanistan in juxtaposition to the grotesque excess of the musical star.

Underneath some of the resentment was no doubt racial. The white backlash was best articulated by Long Island Republican Representative Peter King, who famously blasted Jacko as a “pervert” unworthy of nonstop media coverage.

And though lots of people felt that way, a significant slice of the population didn’t. Specifically black people. Polls showed a huge discrepancy between blacks and whites about how excessive the coverage actually was.

There were criticisms that the performer’s controversies were (pardon the expression) whitewashed. But MSNBC seemed to have extensive coverage of Vanity Fair scribe Maureen Orth on the night Jackson died, talking about her reporting on his 1993 legal problems regarding allegations of inappropriate behavior with a young boy.

But to Bozell and others who decried the networks failure to cover more “important” stories, I wanted to shake people and ask: And you’re just realizing this NOW?

People’s memories can’t be that hazy. You may recall the weekend after Iran’s Presidential election, there were loud complaints in the blogosphere about the lack of coverage of the events on the streets of Tehran.

Remember? That’s when we learned of the so-called “Twitter revolution”. Why Twitter?  Because those in the U.S. who were fascinated by the events regarding the race between Ahmadinejad and Moussavi, and had to rely on social media sites like Twitter and for reports from sites like the Huffington Post for the news, because the cable networks were taking the weekend off.

But how much information did you get regarding the coup in Honduras? Or the murder of a human rights activist in Chechnya? Immediately after 9/11, the networks bulked up as a craving developed among the American populace that they NEEDED to know what was going on overseas.

But that costs money. And though MSNBC and FOX were never beacons of such coverage, it is CNN that has become our biggest letdown of resources.

And if the coverage of Jackson was too soft for some, what are we to make of the six-day post-death coronation of the late Ronald Reagan back in 2004?

The late President was no doubt a giant figure of American history. However, he was also a controversial leader who many thought might be impeached in 1986 after news of the Iran/Contra scandal erupted. Nary a negative word was said between the time the Gipper died on a Saturday night, and when he was buried in the twilight of a Southern California summer evening six days later.

No, MJ’s coverage was akin more to the culture of celebritydom that was captured in the death of Princess Diana back in 1997, the first time that all three of “the cables” could go nonstop (including the live coverage of her funeral in the middle of the night in the U.S.).

And I’m not even talking about the disturbing trend the networks displayed in recent years showing nonstop coverage of missing attractive white women, which climaxed in the coverage of Natalee Holloway (and what led one academic to blame on the demise of the Fairness Doctrine).

At least Michael Jackson left something behind that people could identify with. But what to make of the coverage of the deaths of Chaundry Levy, Laci Peterson, and Anna Nicole-Smith?

So is there any positive source of television news 28 years after Walter Cronkite was forced out at CBS in 1981? Well, I can’t answer for what Katie, Brian and Charlie are doing at 6:30 PM (I’m doing my newscast at that time), but I can tell you that except for the breaking news conference, I’m not going to the cables for news. What about commentary, to make sense of it all? As the soon to be departed Governor of Alaska said recently, hell yes. But for day to day coverage, if you can’t get BBC America on your cable or satellite package, you’re better off sticking to the many other great sources of information still in existence in the summer of 2009. You know, like newspapers, certain web sites, or yeah, even public/community radio stations.

By Lorna Bracewell
PoHo contributor

Confronted with a news story involving lesbian penguins at a German zoo, you would think that evil geniuses Bill O’Reilly and Dennis Miller could muster at least one decent lesbian joke.

Watch their pathetic attempts after the jump.

If you can do better (and I know you can!) please share in the comments section.

Major has-been Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin gets another round with a national audience tonight, appearing on Sean Hannity’s unquestioning show to say “I told you so” about Barack Obama. She’s flogging the right-wing bullshit about how we are creeping toward socialism. (See the Political Whore post debunking that.)

From the interview, leaked (conveniently) to Drudge Report:

HANNITY: What do you make of – look at the state of the economy now…

PALIN: Well, when you consider that the federal government is about eleven trillion dollars in debt, and we’re borrowing more to spend more.. it defies any sensible economic policy that any of us ever learned through college. It defies economy practices and principles that tell ya ‘you gotta quit digging that hole when you are in that financial hole’

Palin continues:

“America is digging a deeper hole and how are we paying for this government largesse. We’re borrowing. We’re borrowing from China and we consider that now we own sixty percent of GENERAL MOTORS – or the U.S. government does… But who is the U.S. government becoming more indebted to? It’s China. So that leads you to have to ask who is really going to own our car industry than in America.”

HANNITY: You know but it goes back – It does go back a little to the campaign. I mean, ‘spread the wealth, patriotic duty…’

PALIN: Kind of a ‘we told ya so’.

HANNITY: Well, is that how you feel?

PALIN: That’s how I feel! I feel like… and I think that more and more constituents are going to open their eyes now and open their ears to hear what is really going on and realize ok… Maybe we didn’t have a good way of expressing that, or articulating that message of ‘here is what America could potentially become if we grow government to such a degree that we cannot pay for it and we have to borrow money from other countries, some countries that don’t necessarily like America.

“We are America! I don’t give a rats ass if it helps! We do not fucking torture!”

Can you really blame Shep for losing his cool? He’s surrounded by sycophants and morons of the worst kind. (Hello, Hannity!) I couldn’t take the studio tour at Fox News without losing my cool and getting Tazered by security.

On a side note, the banging on the desk was a nice touch. Video after the break …

First, the CNN kerfuffle:

Then, Shep Smith’s retort on Fox:

Our country is headed to hell in a handbasket if this is what is going to pass for journalism going forward.

Fox News has essentially rejiggered its online content to create FOXNation.com. Its supporters see its lofty goal as to transform the ‘Nets the way it claims to have reinvented television. This introductory mission statement from Grover Norquist:

I believe that FOX Nation has the potential to do to the Internet what FOX News did to cable television. That is, be a disruptive, transformative–but also profoundly constructive–media force.

Just as FOX News brought a new vision and voice to the media landscape in the 90s–fair and balanced reporting, plus strong debate and commentary–so FOX Nation will bring still more vision and voice in the decade to come. Only this time, the vision and voice will come from you, the American people. That’s right: Thanks to FOX Nation, all Americans will now have a landmark forum, a watershed opportunity to speak out on the issues they care about, want to learn more about–and do more about.

FOX Nation itself takes no position on issues–although unlike so many other Web portals, FOX Nation does begin with the presumption that America is a special and unique place, a blessed land to be treasured and defended.

So members of the Leave Us Alone Coalition, I predict, are going to love FOX Nation as it fully rolls out in the weeks and months to come. That’s right, conservatives, libertarians, and other believers in limited government have found a new home–at FOX Nation.

Fox’s own purpose statement:

The FOX Nation Statement of Purpose

The Fox Nation was created for people who believe in the United States of America and its ideals, as expressed in the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Emancipation Proclamation.

It is a community that believes in the American Dream:  Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.   One that believes being an American is an honor, as well as a great responsibility—and a wonderful adventure.

This is a place for people who believe we live in a great country, a welcoming refuge for legal immigrants who want to contribute their talent and abilities to make our way of life even greater. We believe we should enjoy the company and support of each other, delighting in the creativity, ingenuity, and work ethic of one and all, while observing the basic rules of civility and mutual respect and, most importantly, strengthening our diverse society by striving for unity.

The Fox Nation is for those committed to the core principles of tolerance, open debate, civil discourse–and fair and balanced coverage of the news.   It is for those opposed to intolerance, excessive government control of our lives, and attempts to monopolize opinion or suppress freedom of thought, expression, and worship.

We invite all Americans who share these values to join us here at Fox Nation.

The first feature I spied on the new site: A grinning idiot Glenn Beck next to the headline, “Beck: It’s anti-American to try to keep newspapers afloat.”

• Only the French could negotiate a cease fire that allows one side to continue attacking.
• Who will the U.S. be backing, Russia or Georgia? The Russians would like to know.
• More Fox News: Bill Kristol says Colin Powell is going to endorse Barack Obama and speak at the convention. Powell immediately denies everything. It’s a real shame you can’t believe anything broadcast on Fox News, as this one is juicy.
• Bring on the books about the presidential candidates — and by “candidates” we mean Obama.
• Folks, please be careful when shaking hands with Cindy McCain. She’s fragile.
• The”Colbert Bump” gets the research paper treatment.
• Tarantino’s latest has critics up in arms, and he hasn’t even started shooting yet.
• Julia Child was a frickin’ spy!