TV’s in the waiting areas (and the lounges) are, for better or worse, a fact of life at American airports. CNN’s Airport Network is by and large the most common channel, but not everywhere. South Bend, Indiana’s airport is coming under criticism for the channel it chooses for the monitors:
Which news channel would you prefer to watch at the airport: Fox News or CNN? This is the question that South Bend Regional Airport in Indiana is asking passengers after receiving complaints from five University of Notre Dame professors about the airing of Fox News on airport televisions.
The complaints from the professors called for the airport to switch over to news broadcasting that was more politically neutral than Fox News, which tends to be “the right-wing Republican voice,” said ethics professor Darcia Narvaez, who also said that many cable news stations are biased in their political coverage.
Narvaez said that such programs essentially become propaganda when they are aired in public spaces that are financed by money from taxpayers.
Survey says?
So far, 300 out of 400 responses wanted to see news instead of other kinds of programming such as weather or sports. Out of the people who responded in favor of news, 132 of them wanted to see CNN, 113 wanted to see Fox News, 58 were for MSNBC and four preferred CSPAN.
John Schalliol, the airport director, said that the results so far have not given reason enough to make a change.
Lame. You’ll never please everyone, so why not put the channels on shuffle?
Sounds like Schalliol is playing politics by ignoring the poll he commissioned and insisting on showering bored, waiting passengers with the consistently pro-Republican Fox.
Help Schalliol figure out how he should program his airport TVs by hitting the comments…
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October 8th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
This is a job for TV-B-Gone.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
How about – http://newsatseven.com/ ?
You will never please everybody, and shuffling wouldn’t be a bad idea.
mp/m
October 8th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Teletubbies!
Oh wait, there are rumors that Tinky Winky is gay, so can’t have that.
I’d vote for 100% back-to-back Daily Shows and Colbert Reports.
October 9th, 2008 at 12:16 am
Cast my vote for Fox News. It is the only television station that actually is fair and balanced. And, if you don’t buy that, Indiana is a red state, where more travelers are likely to want Fox News versus the very liberal CNN.
October 9th, 2008 at 5:49 am
I’ll second the Fox News if nothing more than balancing out in comparison to the ultra liberal slant on CNN.
Better yet, put one on Fox, next on CNN, the next on Fox, etc. and see which one gets more viewers in the gate areas.
October 9th, 2008 at 5:53 am
Personally I don’t think this is a big deal. Four complaints out of how many passengers?
October 9th, 2008 at 6:39 am
Anyone who thinks CNN is “ultra liberal” and that Fox is actually “fair and balanced” is on crack. CNN is the voice of the DC establishment, which is centrist at best.
And heck, Fox honchos have even publicly admitted their right-wing bias.
http://www.slate.com/id/2119864/
That said, I like the idea of having different TVs tuned to different channels, or mixing it up. But Oliver’s idea may be the best of all.
October 9th, 2008 at 8:00 am
How ’bout just shutting them all OFF? Sometimes travelers need to think, or figure out how they’re going to get home now that they’ve just canceled another flight, or maybe even just hear the gate-change announcement.
I do not like TVs blasting in the terminal, making us all stupeder.
October 9th, 2008 at 8:05 am
How about including foreign news outlets in deck: BBC, CBC, Deutsche Welle, Al-Jazeera, etc. It would give Americans/passengers alternative perspectives.
October 9th, 2008 at 8:50 am
I agree with HawkinsDale — peace and quiet would be wonderful. Maybe it’s because I often take early morning and/or redeye flights and I;d love nothing more than quiet while I wait for my flights.
October 9th, 2008 at 8:54 am
Ban TV? The horror!
No beer and no TV make me… something something.
via videosift.com
October 9th, 2008 at 9:16 am
Frankly, it’s good to have variety – I’d hate to see CNN become the Pravda of airport TV. Filing a lawsuit against an airport showing Fox is just another form of censorship, after all.
I’d rather see a channel I don’t agree with sometimes than think that my viewing choices are being selected for political correctness (although I’m SURE our Notre Dame professor friends know much more about what’s good for me than I do /sarcasm)
October 9th, 2008 at 9:39 am
hoice.
October 9th, 2008 at 10:28 am
The gentleman should follow his poll and allow what most people want. If I had to wait in that airport and was force-fed Fox “News” I would have to find alternate modes of transportation.
October 9th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Some interesting discussion here. I personally like the all-Daily Show/Colbert mix best, if TVs are to be turned on at all. But like HawkinsDale, I’d usually prefer no TV at all.
After all, the TVs aren’t there for your enjoyment (especially if they’re the contracted boxes from CNN Airport Network). They’re an advertising delivery medium.
That said, boy, this post sure made my e-mail inbox a more interesting place. More later…
October 10th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Show BBC… world news baby!
Anyway, to those who said “turn it off” understand that many travelers, especially business travelers like to know what’s going on in the world during their busy busy trips.
Or screw them and just put on cartoons for the kids! That’s what I’d rather see anyway!
October 12th, 2008 at 7:08 am
Think impossible to satisfy everyone in public places. It’s either to go with the majority’s choice or to the benefits of provider.
http://www.ourexplorer.com
local guides, local wisdom
October 13th, 2008 at 9:10 am
How about stick to travel related items instead of trying to get your readership to bully an airport into showing what you’d like to see.
October 13th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Typical Republican poop from McPoop. Let us just bully our way past the truth, label people with “agendas” to discredit them, and sweep any debate under the rug. Yes, asking readers for opinions in a debate certainly is bullying (rollseyes). I am surprised you didn’t accuse the blogger of being unpatriotic. Go back to your rock!
October 14th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
If you think “fair and balanced” is anything but the most hilariously ironic slogan in advertising history, I’ve got a bridge to nowhere to sell you. Terrorist fist jab, anyone?
If more airports start adopting Fox News, I would definitely invest in a TV-B-Gone. Of course, the most interesting part of this story is that the airport director commissioned a poll and then IGNORED the results.
Then again, I’m sure the director is aware that reality has a well-known liberal bias.
October 14th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
why do you even bother to put that a** hole Bill on your site. Waste of space. move on!
October 15th, 2008 at 4:31 am
I vote for BBC. Less bias either way and it actually spends time talking about news, rather than celebrities, politics, the latest “big trial”, etc.