What's Wrong With TV News?

Berkman Fellow Rebecca MacKinnon gives an inside take on the downsides of corporate TV journalism. Formerly the bureau chief for CNN in Tokyo and Beijing, MacKinnon spent a number of years covering international events for the station. But in her article, Priorities of American Global TV: Humanity, National Interest, or Commercial Profit, MacKinnon explains why American TV audiences rarely received balanced reports on these events. The answer involves pressure on producers to win ratings battles and boost corporate profits. According to MacKinnon, these pressures have damaged the credibility, objectivity, and quality of TV journalism. How can the problem be solved? Audiences "must demand better quality information," MacKinnon says. To that end, she has created NKZone, a blog that reports stories about North Korea, which are frequently neglected by the mainstream media.