Saving CNN, Ctd

Douthat complements his article on the subject with a blog post:

The question is whether anyone would watch it, or whether these are just intellectual fantasies of what a current-events channel should be. It’s possible nay, likely that cable news tends toward unserious, polarized shoutfests because that’s the only kind of political show that sells. (Well, that and ideologically-inflected comedy: Hence The Daily Show, Real Time With Bill Maher, etc., which swaddle their serious conversations in satire and farce.)

But if so, then CNN is doomed to third place (or worse) forever, because there’s simply no way, at this point in the game, to out-shout and out-polarize Fox News or MSNBC. And if they’re doomed anyway, then why not have some fun on the way down?

Dreher's feelings:

You know what I'd like? A cable news channel with a bias toward the thoughtful and interesting. A place where you might hear a discussion that raises issues and angles on issues that you haven't heard a thousand other places.