http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4g7muD66uY

I watched/recorded a bit of American TV last night (it was strange seeing the temperatures in Fahrenheit :P) and the one thing that astounded me was how colloquial and informal the presentation was. There's absolutely no way that comment about the "twin weatherman" would have been said on Australian or British TV. It has made me curious, is American news (e.g CBS News, FOX News) generally that informal or was it only informal, because it's a breakfast program? I recorded this off The Weather Channel, but i'm surprised that the program generally wasn't more formal.

The state of American broadcast news is beyond deplorable. It is absolutely awful in every way. It was not always so. But for any number of years now the line between news and entertainment has become so blurred that now what passes for news is actually "infotainment".  Also, there was a time when broadcast news made at least a pretense of being impartial. That's long gone also. And local news broadcasts are even far worse than national. The women dress as if they were going to a nightclub rather than delivering a newscast. I'm no prude, believe me, but again, there should at least be a pretense of professionalism in this realm. It's a cesspool of idiocy. Look at old clips of Walter Cronkite, especially during the JFK assassination, and you will see the excellence of the news as it once was. It's no secret that Millennials (and post-Millennials) get their news in other ways, so broadcast news is resorting to more and more outlandish methods to try to save a sinking ship.

All of this is a long winded way of answering your  question. Yes, the news is that informal, and it's a disgrace. Can you tell you've hit a pet peeve of mine?  :)

That clip is quintessential Weather Channel.  The presentation looks very typical.  I guess the informality doesn't bother me that much - but by now I'm sure I've adjusted to how it has changed over the years.

The state of American broadcast news is beyond deplorable. It is absolutely awful in every way. It was not always so. But for any number of years now the line between news and entertainment has become so blurred that now what passes for news is actually "infotainment". And there was a time when broadcast news made at least a pretense of being impartial. That's long gone also. And local news broadcasts are even far worse than national. The women dress as if they were going to a nightclub rather than delivering a newscast. And I'm no prude, believe me, but again, there should at least be a pretense of professionalism in this realm. It's an absolute cesspool. Look at old clips of Walter Cronkite, especially during the JFK assassination, and you will see the excellence of the news as it once was. And it's no secret that Millennials (and post-Millennials) get their news in other ways, so broadcast news is resorting to more and more outlandish methods to try to save a sinking ship.

All of this is a long winded way of answering your  question. Yes, the news is that informal, and it's a disgrace. Can you tell you've hit a pet peeve of mine?  :)


Thank you for the response. :)

It's pretty sad to hear that American broadcast news is in the state that it is in. To be honest, it's completely disgraceful. When I heard that comment from Stephanie Abrams (a presenter of AM HQ, as featured in the video), I was appalled at how low-brow and off-key it was. It's something which belongs off-camera, not in front of an audience of millions of people.

I absolutely agree with you that there should still be a pretense of professionalism in the media. Journalism is a very serious occupational field by nature and the amount of "fluff" and informal content should be heavily restricted. There's a time and place for it, however it shouldn't take precedence over reporting and presenting.

I'm a bit of a news junkie, so I will check out Walter Cronkite's presenting, as well as watch/record clips of the local news broadcasts. :)

That clip is quintessential Weather Channel.  The presentation looks very typical.


I've noticed that it's actually quite different from another US weather station I came across, The Weather Network. From what I've observed, The Weather Network is more formal with it's presenting and content.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubcTV79-jpc

I've noticed that it's actually quite different from another US weather station I came across, The Weather Network. From what I've observed, The Weather Network is more formal with it's presenting and content.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubcTV79-jpc


I should point out to you that the Weather Channel isn't really a news channel per se. In fact, it's barely a weather channel, but rather an "infotainment" channel, so amid all the fake news it's faker. In fact, the proliferation of so many 24 hour news and pseudo-news channels is a major factor in the decline of broadcast news.

I like watching Rachel Maddow. She does joke around but when it comes to serious topics, she is serious. She doesn't take serious topics lightly. She knows how to balance entertaining and being informative. Also, Lawrence O'Donnell & Chris Hayes are along those lines, too. 



Cat