National news is coverage of current events affecting the nation. It often includes political issues, as well as natural disasters and other public health concerns. National news is widely available on local television, cable and satellite networks, and online. Objectivity is an essential quality of national news, but it can be difficult to achieve because of the subject matter being reported on. This exploratory study examined whether national news can be objective and unbiased.
In addition to CNN, other major network news channels include Fox News Channel (FNC), MSNBC, and Bloomberg TV. A number of other cable news networks also exist, such as The Weather Channel, NewsMax TV, RFD-TV, and the now defunct Al Jazeera America.
The Weather Channel launched in August 1982 as a market leader for news regarding weather forecasting. It was owned by Landmark Communications, which sold the network to a joint venture of NBCUniversal, Blackstone Group and Bain Capital in 2008; these parties later split the channel (its non-broadcast assets went to IBM while the broadcast channel itself was purchased by Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios). The Weather Channel remains primarily a news channel, with only a few hours per weekday devoted to reality programs, and has been criticized for relying too heavily on such programming. As of March 2020, the channel is available through most major cable providers. During the early 2010s, the channel’s reliance on such programs led to a carriage dispute with Dish Network.
About the Author
