In David Rohde’s column (“The dueling realities of cable news,” Oct. 6), he discusses America’s “failing news industry,” citing various programs he watched the night of Oct. 2.

Among those he mentioned were “Hardball With Chris Matthews” (MSNBC), “The O’Reilly Factor” (Fox), “All In With Chris Hayes” (MSNBC) and “Hannity” (Fox). I’d like to point out that those shows are opinion shows. Their hosts are pundits, not newscasters.

For real news reporting, might I suggest watching actual “news” cable shows? A good cross-section would be: Don Lemon on “CNN Newsroom,” “Special Report With Bret Baier” (Fox), “Morning Joe” (MSNBC) and “The Situation Room,” with Wolf Blitzer (CNN). You can get a fairly good balance of news and stay informed. They report the news, giving both sides. Even though there will be some leaning right or left, they do not opine a personal agenda.

After that, depending on your leaning, tune into your favorite political pundits, including Rachel Maddow, Mike Huckabee, the Rev. Al Sharpton, Martin Bashir, Ed Schultz and those Mr. Rohde mentioned in his column. Remember to take them with a whole box of salt!

We no longer have a Walter Cronkite, but if we look carefully, we can find reasonable news programs to keep ourselves informed without derision.


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