Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for September 06, 2023

Pig said the quiet part out loud.

Ironically, afraid and informed can sometimes be the same thing.

At first, I was wondering if he had a knife in his hand, but I think that that is his tail.

watch the Swime at nine…

No; pig had it right. The interviewer bought the corporate propaganda.

Their pronoun is miss.

…Keep our viewers biased with our one-sided news stories.

It would also be accurate, as well as somewhat revelatory, if the mission just ended right there in the first panel: “Our mission is to keep our viewers”.

Obviously not CNN.

It is all about the ratings, not necessarily the honest cold hard facts. Main stream media tends to identify the demographics of their faithful viewers and find ways to get them to watch the programming and click the stories on the web. I think speaking the truth is often secondary to profit.

Pig’s not wrong. I noticed the trend back in about 91.

145 mph winds heading to the carolinas—informed, if you’re in nebraska.

What qualifications does Pig have for working at a cable news station?

I went to work dressed like pig, once. Did not go well. Lesson learned, 3 big coffees, MINIMUM, before attempting to leave the house.

The “news” is someone’s packaged opinion.

Pig is right!

Morning Steph, Pigs right on with this one!

I’m impressed he’s not wearing a clip-on.

Ignorance can be bliss at times.

“Wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then” – Bob Seger

“Be afraid, be very afraid”…sounds better than “be informed, be very informed”, TBH. :D

That is so true afraid. That’s how they make their money. Good news doesn’t make money. They will go broke on telling good news.

There’s no word missing at the end of the interviewer’s sentence. Their mission is simply to keep their viewers.

I would have said, Enraged.

It’s unfortunate that print news is dying out. While certainly newspapers could be guilty of sensationalism, I think the quality of news was better when we relied mostly on the daily paper (and to some extent, the local nightly news). The 24/7 news cycle needs filler to capture eyes, and the shorter our attention spans, the more sensational the “news” has to be.

Of course, some “news” outlets have dispensed with all pretense of being news and are really just commentary.

That’s what happens when you tell the truth to executives.

The tie without the other clothing of any kind did it. Try Burger King. They don’t care.

Obviously not Faux News or OAN

“FOX does just what CNN does, it does just what MSNBC does, and that’s sell hate.” Chris Hedges

Informed? That’s hilarious.

I think Pig is more correct, not gonna lie.

The pig is right! The guy with the glasses is lying.

This is our local weather reports. We get weeks of how this hurricane is really gonna gitcha this time. You better just have a prepaid funeral. Then when it turns out to sea, no mention. You’re changing stations for two days saying what happened to the #@$x hurricane?

This is BS absolutely NO cable news station wants to keep you informed

And FAIR

I’m afraid to be informed…

The Count was going to say “making their viewers believe they’re victims and entitled to something they’re not that someone else has to pay for”.

“changing channels”.

Both afraid and informed.

That’s what you get for jumping the gun, Pig. You should have kept your mouth shut and let him finish.

Wait! Does Neighbor Bob work for the cable company?!

Pig nailed it. One party in particular uses fear and hatred (powerful emotions) to influence their followers.

The mission is to keep viewers eyes on commercials. Everything else is secondary

more afraid than informed.

News is like Wall Street, it runs on fear and greed.

Originally, TV News are a not-for-profit part of programming; more of a public-service mindset.

Then some smart TV exec figured out: if we sensationalize some events, we’ll get more viewers as a lead-in to the following programs. It’s gone downhill since then.

Brainwashed is more like it!

Pig! You can think that, but not say it out loud!

Must be MSNBC. SHO’ ain’t Fox News.

unfortunately, what they really want to do is to keep viewers entertained so they can keep ratings up so they can charge sponsors exorbitant rates

Entertained

amazing, just one little word can change your life!!!

Newsflash: Mitch McConnell has been replaced by a cardboard cutout

Same difference.

Cable news? More like cabal news.

Pig has been trying to avoid stress, but applies for a job at a news station???

Actually, their mission is to keep their viewers. He had completed the statement.

“Our mission here is to keep our viewers.” End of sentence.

And each side is absolutely convinced that it’s only the other side that does it.

Way back, in some university course, I learned the “post hoc ergo propter hoc” fallacy which is often used by political candidates against their opponents, and swallowed hook line and sinker by the gullible.

Carl Sagan had this to say about the topic: The Fine Art of Baloney DetectionCarl Sagan The human understanding is no dry light, but receives an infusion from the will and affections; whence proceed sciences which may be called “sciences as one would.” For what a man had rather were true he more readily believes. Therefore he rejects difficult things from impatience of research; sober things, because they narrow hope; the deeper things of nature, from superstition; the light of experience, from arrogance and pride, lest his mind should seem to be occupied with things mean and transitory; things not commonly believed, out of deference to the opinion of the vulgar. Numberless in short are the ways, and sometimes imperceptible, in which the affections colour and infect the understanding. Francis Bacon, Novum Organon (1620)My parents died years ago. I was very close to them. I still miss them terribly. I know I always will. I long to believe that their essence, their personalities, what I loved so much about them, are—really and truly—still in existence somewhere. I wouldn’t ask very much, just five or ten minutes a year, say, to tell them about their grandchildren, to catch them up on the latest news, to remind them that I love them. There’s a part of me—no matter how childish it sounds—that wonders how they are. “Is everything all right?” I want to ask. The last words I found myself saying to my father, at the moment of his death, were “Take care.” Sometimes I dream that I’m talking to my parents, and suddenly—still immersed in the dreamwork—I’m seized by the overpowering realization that they didn’t really die, that it’s all been some kind of horrible mistake. Why, here they are, alive and well, my father making wry jokes, my mother earnestl

Actually, more like “info-scared”. :) :(

More like oblivious.

Our mission here is to keep our viewers … paying. Whatever it takes.

Pig got it right.

Since MOST ‘news’ is nothing but sensationalist in nature, (since sensationalism and fear-mongering attract viewers, which in turn attracts advertisers, where the resulting revenue helps in bailing out these rapidly declining, and increasingly irrelevant ‘news’ sources, fear-mongering AND above average creative writing skills ARE a resume enhancers, when it comes to today’s "news’ coverage.And, WHY entertainment and sports, ARE considered newsworthy IS BEYOND ME.

Correct…..

You have to understand news services use English words, but they never mean what you think.

Disillusioned!