Are CNN and FOX making passengers crazy?
 

I'm like everybody else trying to figure out the rash of violence onboard airplanes in the news recently.

I started to wonder if it's not starting in the gatehouse.

I know in Atlanta, when you're sitting at the gate, it's almost impossible not to watch or listen to the CNN broadcast on the overhead screens. Some people love it, some people don't. I think it might be unnecessarily divisive just prior to takeoff.

Regardless of the politics of our passengers or which news outlet each airport chooses to air, there is a general consensus the news media has become significantly more partisan and polarizing than it ever has been. (Probably not something that is going to help right before you stuff 200 people into a metal tube).

My question is this: why are we subjecting our passengers to material that is at least going to be objectionable to half of them and at worst be potentially the first link in a chain leading to an incident of cabin rage once they get on the airplane?

Is there something else we could replace media programming with that would help passengers start their journey in a better frame of mind than divisive politics?

I suggest reruns of Baywatch, but am open to other (apolitical) ideas.

Don't most people just stare at their phones?


I suggest reruns of full house

Fox and CNN can do no wrong. 24hr news and social media are poison to society. There are very few positives to either.

Tom and Jerry cartoons or perhaps the road runner would be more appropriate

The airport TV's are for the old people.

I agree. Not that I really care (or watch) about CNN ot FOX. Social media however is a problem. There is so much misinformation and outright BS. So much clickbait titles and the like. In our time we are seeing people who do not care to evaluate this garbage against fact. They just see something that touches their emotions. After that it becomes fact in their little heads.

This.

Also, many "news sources" create shocking and half-truth titles for their various links so that people will click. No one bothers to hear the whole story. They just want to be shocked and whipped into a frenzy.

They should just play the crash scene from the Denzel Washington movie Flight on a continuous loop.

That's been their business model since the 1970's. Shark attacks, cats calling 911, alligator eating said cat. "More at eleven" has been replaced by "You won't believe what this shark did to this cat calling 911 ... click here for more."

I stick with the PBS Newshour.

Sesame Street and Plaza Sesamo.

The airports that play music are great. I specifically try to find areas without the TV's when I have to spend more than a few minutes of my time there.

Yank the flat screens and reinstall these!

Instead of polarizing news that at least half the people would want to tune out, why not use those monitors for information that would make the boarding process easier; give subtle clues on passenger edicate; or explain to the public why some of the regulations and policies we enforce are in place.

For example, if there was a 60 second clip about why we are prohibited from moving the aircraft with passengers out of their seat, maybe we could have mitigated the guy that didn't understand why he couldn't use the bathroom during takeoff.

I think we're missing an opportunity to better serve the public with the video displays in the gatehouse.

Be that as it may, I imagine it would wind up being like the AFN spots that replace all the commercials on TV overseas for the military. Being subjected to those for an hour before boarding would be enough to make sure everyone was good and ticked off.


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Someone told me a ways back, "If you had to talk for 24hrs, 7 days a week, you'd have to make stuff up" That's exactly whats happening with the 'new' media cycle. If there's not news, you better make some

Just look at our "rage & confrontation" culture. Its all over the TV with so called reality TV and all the mouth breathing pundits with hot takes on TV. We repeat or act out what we think is normal from what we see on the dish

We're not too far off from the Running Man

I don't think the 24 hour news in your face at every place you go is going anywhere anytime soon. TV's in every restaurant, bank, bar, barber shop is the way now, even if no one is watching. It's one thing if you're playing sports, but sometimes we want to piece and quiet. I remember being stuck in ATL airport overnight and finding a quiet place to sleep. The news in every corner continued to blare at full blast. But CNN and the airports make lots of money off of playing them on the "airport networks" so as I said. It's not going anywhere, sadly.

Real simple, if you don't like it, don't watch. Move on.:rolleyes:

How about the Weather Channel? Relevant for the traveling public and a picture is worth a thousand words during the next weather IROP..

There have been crazy passengers around for quite a long time..... The change is they now think they will be rich and famous if their craziness leads to TMZ.

Warhol was right.

Many of the monitors installed at airports, were paid for and installed by CNN. Im not sure about the ones with Fox. The ones with CNN, aren't going to used for public service announcements, without some push.

No one is forcing us to watch or be on social media 24/7 but many are. Is it contributing to today's problems? I don't know but my opinion is it can't help.

I was first exposed to 24/7 news during the first Gulf War. I was in high school and they set up a tv in the cafeteria and allowed "concerned" students to skip class and watch. I was 16 and something in the back of my head said, "this can't be good" (ref 24/7 immersion in a subject).

Fast forward 12 or so years. I'm living in SYR flying for a commuter and a girl I was dating showed me that social media site that came before Facebook, I think it was MySpace. Thinking back now the same voice in the back of my head said the same thing.

Man that's f&0cked up!

I've never seen anything other than CNN on airport TVs. I would vote for reruns of Bob Ross.

I assumed FOX ran at some airports, but maybe that was wrong.

If that's the case, maybe we're underserving half the market. It's pretty obvious CNN only appeals to about half the public. It's often offensive to the other half.

If we are a business industry, why are we alienating half the customers before boarding?

Most people don't even watch, their mind is made up about a topic after reading the click bait title of something.

Just put all the Hillary voters on the no fly list, would makes things much more pleasant.

So, that would be the MAJORITY of Americans?!

(I can't stand her, but that was too easy. Enjoy your "democracy".)

let's go ahead and throw all the trump supporters on there too. They're just as insufferable.

Oh and all the libertarian voters as well. They smell and are always trying to convince me to run Linux on my laptop.

I don't think it's about trump supporters or clinton supporters. I think the business model of 24/7 media is unnecessarily divisive.

You might wake up in a good mood without much concern. But when you're sitting at the gate, waiting for your flight, you're exposed to how we're all doomed because of terrorism and climate change.

You're also bombarded with how screwed up everything is due to the ignorance or greed of the idiots that vote for the other party. And there's probably one of those idiots sitting right next to you!

The news makes more money by getting everybody riled up. That's just not good before people board a flight.

I blame MTV ever since they quit playing music videos the country has gone to hell. Bring back Martha Quinn.

Let's get real. They were crazy before they showed up at the airport.

Eh California kind of skews the stats, take California away and the majority of Americans voted for Trump.

We are not nor have ever been a democracy. We are a constitutional republic.

Preeminent Professor of law disagrees with you.
https://medium.com/@lessig/the-united-states-is-not-a-democracy-it-is-a-republic-54e8036c781c

Its usually at FBOs like Atlantic or Signature.


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Preeminent Professors of Law also disagree with each other. Most of them are not political activists and unsuccessful candidates for President. :rolleyes:

That is the dumbest statement. "Take away people who voted for Clinton and most Americans would have voted for Trump." Of COURSE that's how that works.

The way I see it, news is polarizing. At their homes, if they watch news, they'll either watch CNN or Fox but they won't watch the other because it's offensive to them.

If these networks have agreements with the airports to broadcast at the gates, I understand.

Maybe they could be compelled to produce more unoffensive material specifically geared to the broader public you find at airport gates. A broadcast different then you would get from the cable broadcasts at their homes (that they control).

If we censor airplane crash scenes from onboard movies because they are upsetting to passengers, why wouldn't it make sense to censor partisan news broadcasts that are offensive and upsetting to half the pax?

It would just be a practical reaction to the evoution of media.

Here's a hypothetical.

I've got my family at the gate. I'm a liberal and I opposed Trump in the election. I've explained to my kids that it's wrong for President Trump to target undocumented immigrants as criminals that must be deported. Playing above my head are Fox pundits that cherry pick the case of an undocumented immigrant accused of raping and killing someone and creating the impression that it's a widespread phenomena among undocumented immigrants. I strongly opposed that characterization and resent the airport and or airline I'm about to fly on legitimizing it by airing it at the gate.

Conversely, let's say I'm a conservative and I support Trump. I've explained to my kids there are many good reasons President Trump is taking the actions he's taking. Playing above my head, however, are CNN pundits explaining why anyone who voted for Trump is either ignorant or bigoted and that Trump is ruining the country. That insults my support for Trump (in front of my family), but I'm forced to endure it while I'm waiting for boarding.

In either event, I just wanted to take my kids to Disney. I did not sign up for a political challenge. Travel should be an escape.

Although it may seem like a small point, why would introduce negative stimulus to passengers just before boarding?

Yes. My intent is to point out that C130driver's statement, spoken like he is the authority on the subject, isn't definitive.

And also to point out that his judgement is suspect (at best) after his nonsensical comment about California voters.

They are called illegal aliens.