This Is CNN?

Since the 1991 Gulf War, CNN has been my "go to" cable network for breaking news.   There is no lack of major news gripping the globe these days, yet lately CNN has been almost entirely devoted to wall to wall coverage of the disappearance and search for Malaysia Air Flight 370.   Every major issue surrounding this story is certainly worthy of exploring, but when did endless hypothetical opinions based on very limited information become the basis of "breaking news" while so many other stories get left off the air?   The Ukraine crisis continues unabated and the Washington state landslide claims dozens of lives while the overwhelming majority of news time goes to Flight 370.    CNN has some great anchors, and I can't imagine they seriously think they can fill time with questions about whether Flight 370 was swallowed by a black hole without pressure from above to do so.   If this is a way to recoup lost ratings, it's a flawed strategy.

To be "fair and balanced", Fox News has not set the bar high on this story either.   Although other stories get more equally in the mix, they can't even air what little is known about the Malaysia Air disappearance without attacking President Obama.   One anchor's understandable call for patience on getting to the facts on this story was totally shattered by some red meat for their fundamentalist Christian viewers that "it took thousands of years to find Noah's Ark."   No, Fox, they never found it.   MSNBC has been pretty good at perspective, but I can't consistently look to them for breaking news when they spend half their weekends running prison documentaries and their 6:00pm slot has the most polarizing host on TV: Reverend Al Sharpton.   I find his yelling at the camera hard to take, even for my liberal views. 

More Than Luck

I've had a lifetime to contemplate my Irish ancestry.   Yes, my father's parents came over from County Sligo and County Leitrim over 100 years ago while my mother's side can be traced to both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.  Glenn is my mother's maiden name.    I'm about as Irish as you can get.   While I'm proud of what my ancestors had to go through to allow me to live a better life, I find the Irish experience to be a lesson in humility too.   From the Vikings of the Middle Ages to the horrible British administration during the 1850s Potato Famine, conquest and occupation have taken their toll on the Emerald Isle.   As with many people repeatedly conquered by bigger neighbors, the Irish have coped in positive ways such as their special sense of humor and through darker means exemplified by alcohol abuse and religious strife.   Beyond all its varying degrees of ethnic stereotypes and debates over who should be allowed to march in a St. Patrick's Day parade, this day should represent hope and triumph over historic adversity for any nationality.

Connecticut's First AM & FM Stations Sold

Glenn O at WDRC-FM in 2000

The Buckley family has owned all or part of WDRC radio in Hartford for the past 57 years.   It is also remarkable in this notoriously changeable business that WDRC has only had two owners since radio pioneer Franklin Doolittle first set up shop in New Haven in 1922.   This heritage itself is a good enough reason why the sale of WDRC AM & FM along with three other Connecticut AM outlets is a big deal.  A relatively new company, Connoisseur Media, will be purchasing Buckley's Connecticut stations in the next few months.   

While some radio folks may bemoan the loss of another independently owned cluster of stations to a larger and growing company, I see it as a good fit.   Buckley had already made significant cutbacks as it competed with a standalone FM against two of the biggest corporate players in the industry.  CBS and Clear Channel have dominated the Hartford market as owners of multiple FM stations.   Connoisseur seems to have a good reputation already in Connecticut operating WPLR, WEZN and more in the New Haven/Bridgeport market(s).    That should bode well for the staff at WDRC.   Yes, we've heard the "no big changes" falsehoods in the instances of other radio station sales, but I think WDRC has been largely on track for some time now.   They've had to make some tough decisions. That should make them positioned for a better transition now.   As a former employee, I hope I'm correct.   Some of the people I worked with from 1993-2002 are still there.   WDRC, a station so many of us grew up with, was a highlight of my years in radio.     

Understand Russian Nationalism to Understand Ukraine

While our short attention span news cycle focuses for now on events unfolding in the former Soviet republic of the Ukraine, it is easy to want to compare the Russian incursion to the Cold War years and put Vladimir Putin in the same category as Stalin, Khrushchev or Brezhnev.    Since nobody of any authority in the US or EU is calling on NATO military action, we in the West really need to understand the mind of Russia's authoritarian president and the challenges Russia faces from ethnic separatist and Islamic fundamentalism movements that resort to terror.   In Putin's view, he has one trump card that has historically been effective at rallying his supporters: Russian nationalism.   That seemed to work in Russia's war with neighboring Georgia... another region with a big Russian ethnic or Russian-speaking  population.   Regional insurrections within Russia itself have even seen spillover into the United States.   How many Americans had heard of Dagestan a year ago before last year's Boston Marathon bombing?   Terror, whether through Syrian chemical weapons or al-Qaeda, must be a concern of every civilized nation.

 

For all the differences between Russia and the West, there are strong economic ties that bind beyond the ongoing threat of terror.   Look at how the Russian markets have already been negatively impacted by Russia's aggression while worldwide stocks take a hit.   Business hates instability.   Europe needs natural gas to travel from Russia through the Ukraine while Russia disparately needs the revenue.   The Ukraine is also a breadbasket for much of Europe.

 

Meanwhile, Republicans take cheap shots at the Obama administration's "weak" response.   Do they really think sabre rattling between two nuclear powers should be option number one?   President Obama never got credit for standing steadfast against Russian-backed Syria's use of chemical weapons.   During a major international crisis, we owe it to ourselves to be united at home.    We don't have to approve of what "Mother Russia" is doing, but we have to have some understanding of it.