O'Reilly Excuses Tabloidization of News

I know "tabloidization" is not really a word, but you get my point. Last night, Bill O'Reilly said that the excessive coverage of Anna Nicole Smith, Paris Hilton, and similar stories is just because twenty-four hours is just too long to discuss real news. Somehow, with two wars, a Presidential campaign underway, serious problems in state and local government, and untold examples of great accomplishment and terrible failure around the country and the world, it is too much to expect Fox News Channel or CNN to discuss things that really matter throughout their programming.

Especially considering that cable news networks report many of their stories every hour or two during a day, how can it possibly be much of a challenge to find a few solid hours of news every day? There are far too many things happening in the world of real significance for so much news time to be wasted prognosticating about who fathered Anna Nicole Smith's baby or listening to a recording of Alec Baldwin yelling at his daughter. People wishing to saturate themselves with such gossip can certainly find it on E! or read about it in People. 24-Hour news networks should spend their time on actual news. In the words of Bill O'Reilly, "to do otherwise would be ridiculous."