Thursday, December 04, 2008

CNN drops space and science

TV Squad puts a sharp tongue spin on CNN's seemingly lack of interest in the sciences

  • Miles O'Brien looking for a job.
  • The reason? CNN has decided to get rid of their science/tech/environment/space division, because nothing ever happens in science, technology, the environment, or space. The network says that they're getting rid of the division because the "Planet in Peril" series already covers all of that stuff, and they'll just integrate the rest of the science coverage into their regular news. Translation: more cost-cutting in the news business.

I could see the writing on the wall many years ago when the networks stopped airing live coverage of the Apollo missions. And I ask ya, when is the last time you saw a shuttle launch live and for more than 5 minutes? Yeah, thought so

2 comments:

Dave Tackett said...

I wish I could say that I'm surprised, but this is a network that already devoted more time to celebrity coverage each day than they did to science in a year.

Unfortunately this is a mere symptom of a much larger problem - that of a society that is willfully ignorant of science (along with history, math, and everything else of any real importance).

CNN is only a symptom, we (not Beam Me UP readers, obviously) choose ignorance. If the ratings for science were higher, CNN would be eliminating their Paris Hilton division instead.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the comment Dave.
I have to admit to hopeless naivety.
News is news and gossip is gossip. Whether or not some starlette had a clothing failure at some bar is not news - finding a new extra-solar planet is. Seems painfully obvious. If not watching the televised news programs makes me ill informed....then ignorance surely is bliss.