Right after 9/11, we decided to get satellite TV. There were two reasons: (1) endless shows of Japanese Tarento (タレント) who were either eating delicious foods prepared by an on-show chef, watching strange/funny videos, or participating in quiz shows; (2) the realization that when a major global event occurs, it’s better to have access to global, English speaking, news organizations.

At that time, our satellite service offered both BBC and CNN, so there was always a way to escape CNN and jump over to the Beeb for a bit more of a global perspective (I am not sure if CNN is aware that Africa even exists…). These days, I am not sure one could argue that BBC is much better in terms of how it presents news stories. The only benefit is that you don’t have to listen to everything reported through CNN’s, how shall I phrase it, Amplified Terror Filter, with which every piece of news is reported as if it is a looming terror threat: there’s Typhoon Terror, Heat Terror, Health Care Terror, Boy-not-in-a-balloon Terror, and, of course, H1N1 Terror.

A move last year and a switch to a new cable provider meant no more BBC (which I can’t really understand because there is a minor obsession in some pockets of Japan with speaking “the Queen’s English” – a whole other topic that I’ll leave for another post). These days, however, I can no longer bear to watch CNN for reasons that are too numerous to list (and which everyone probably already knows anyway). In fact, instead of even trying to list it up, The Daily Show with John Stewart’s brilliant segment on CNN’s shoddy journalism says it all.

Unfortunately, the embedded video code doesn’t seem to be working anymore, so here’s a direct link.