The cheapest way

to cover a "news" event (the Schiavo-thon or Pope-a-thon for example) is to pick one subject per day (or week), setup cameras, grab the pundits and broadcast rehashed material for hours on end. All very low cost...with very little news value.

Randi Rhodes had it right yesterday when she said cable news is really corporate cost-effective entertainment. From the corporate viewpoint if the public swallows this gruel they'll cease demanding any real news and come to believe journalism was always this lame. Lower costs and more profit for the corporation...more uninformed dumbness for the mallable American population.

Hideously simple and beautifully sinister.