I watched as each of these outlets line up behind President George W. Bush and help beat the drums of a war in Iraq to the American public. I watched each news organization sell the stimulus and Wall Street bail-out to an American public.

Never once were the hard questions asked about the presented information.

I don’t believe all journalists on these networks are at complete fault. It is the companies they work for. Huge media conglomerates own each of these outlets is out to make profits.

So, what we lose in America is an unbiased approach to news.

Now, I am not saying every reporter has the ability to report without some form of bias, but I think it can be done with as little bias as possible.

What happened is 24-hour news organizations are actually becoming entertainment organizations.

As John Stewart said in a debate with Bernie Goldberg, “I have not moved out of the comedian’s box into the news box. The news box is moving towards me.”

Entertainment has taking over the telling of the news and it is for profit and ratings.

It is up to the people to see what is possible and what can be done with media. People have freedom in America and with this freedom we can debate honestly and truthfully.

America is great because it is made up of individuals each who have their own belief politically, socially and the right to practice this freedom of ideas in an open forum. But to use a label of news organizations and then exploit liberal or conservative views goes too far.

I believe it causes the hatred and deep divides we have now in our country. Each news organization knows its audience and panders to those beliefs. Entertainment is now our news.

There is no one to blame. It is the consumer getting what they want. All I am saying is before you take the next commentator at their word. Do some research, step outside the comfort zone. If you are liberal look up some opposing views on a subject hear the other side from a reparable source and listen to the facts and not rants.

I ask the same from conservatives, find an opposing view listen to the facts from a reparable source.

It is hard. But I do it daily seeking truth in every story I read or hear about. However, it takes time to seek out the truth when you are bombarded by news that is out for entertainment ratings then informing the public.

He watches the popular cartoon and several other favorite shows on Hulu, an advertising-supported online provider of television programming and movies.

The Novi freshman finds online viewing more convenient than regular television, particularly because it often has less advertising.

“I can just watch it at my leisure,” Bowman said.

Hulu received a record 856 million video views in October during the peak of the fall TV season, according to a statement from comScore,Inc.

Comcast, one of the nation’s largest cable programming providers and a partner of Hulu, now offers some of its cable content through the Internet in a new service called Fancast XFINITY TV. Subscribers use the service by logging in to their Comcast account and downloading a client program to up to three computers of their choice.

“It gives access to a great number of movies and network shows that would be similar to what you would view on your television,” said Mary Beth Halprin, vice president of public relations and community affairs of Comcast Michigan.

The service currently offers content from 27 different networks, including HBO, Cinemax and Univision. About 1,000 episodes and 900 movies are available for viewing, Halprin said.

The programming is delivered in a format similar to Fancast, she said.

Fancast is Comcast’s free 360p resolution streaming TV Web site (standard definition is 480i). Fancast XFINITY TV includes shows such as “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Cake Boss” and “The Sopranos.”

The service is only available to subscribers of Comcast’s video and cable services. The corporation plans to make it available to any digital video subscriber regardless of Internet service provider, Halprin said.

Fancast XFINITY TV is not intended to be a direct competitor with Hulu and is instead a recognition of the evolving preferences of modern viewers, Halprin said.

“We recognize that our customers are changing their lifestyles,” she said.

Hazel Park sophomore Sophia Elyas prefers to augment her regular viewing with online screenings from her favorite networks’ Web sites.

“If I miss my TV show, I’ll go on that night and watch it,” she said.

Wimbush-Sherrod sued Milford junior Jacob Goodin for unpaid gas and electric bills and won the case on the legal reality TV show “Judge Mathis.”

The incident happened in the spring semester of 2009 and the segment was filmed in Chicago over the summer.

“I took (my roommate) to Judge Mathis because we were both college students and we couldn’t afford to pay the bills,” Wimbush-Sherrod said. “I wasn’t mad at him and I wanted to work things out.”

Goodin was unavailable for comment.

He said he went on the Judge Mathis Web site and submitted his dispute and was called within three days by producers. He was informed that he and his roommate would be flown out for free, be provided meals, spending money and a hotel room.

“The filming took literally two minutes in and out, but we were there for a full day and a half,” Wimbush-Sherrod said. “I hated filming because we didn’t have time to talk or tell the story. We just embarrassed each other on national TV to help them out with ratings.”

‘Didn’t do anything’

He said the producers told him to bring embarrassing pictures of his roommate or any proof that he parties, drinks, or does drugs.

“We were embarrassing each other so bad that we even started to lie since we didn’t have to take an oath,” he said. “We just wanted to look good for TV.”

Wimbush-Sherrod said even though he won the case and received $200 — half his money back — he was unsatisfied with the experience.

“Judge Mathis didn’t do anything,” he said. “He sat up in a chair, laughed at us, yelled for me to shut up when I talked, didn’t look at any facts and then made his decision off of what we were just saying.”

A retired judge of Michigan’s 36th District Court, Mathis has presided over his television court since 1999 and has filmed more than 1,000 episodes. On the series, cases are classified as tort law, which are civil disputes with a maximum $5,000 claim.

“The parties both agree contractually to go on TV and to subject themselves to a ruling and follow the ruling of the TV show’s private court,” said Kenneth Sanney, a faculty member in the finance and law department. “What it seems like is that these courts don’t have any legal jurisdiction — it’s more of a contractual situation.

Sanney said the way the court would enforce their ruling is by bringing a breach of contract lawsuit against the party that didn’t follow the court’s ruling.

“It would just create another lawsuit for a breach of contract,” he said.

That can put CMU out there on a national front. It can give the team and the school more exposure.

But that exposure doesn’t mean a thing if the students and Mount Pleasant locals can’t view the game. The season opener at Arizona should have been on television so CMU fans could see it.

The football team is playing an impressive array of opponents this year: Arizona, Michigan State and Boston College. These are colleges outside the Mid-American Conference, teams Central traditionally does not play. Wins, and sometimes even close losses, can generate national buzz.

But the team’s primary fan bases — students, Mount Pleasant residents and many alumni in Michigan — didn’t get to see the team’s 19-6 loss at Arizona on Saturday. The CMU Athletics Department resorted to promoting the CMU Sports Network radio broadcast instead through its Web site, cmuchippewas.com.

The department considers it a victory for CMU to play a Pac 10 team for the first time. But is it really a victory when your fans can’t conveniently watch the game on television?

Although the game could have been viewed on the computer, many telecasts required fans to pay $10 for tape-delayed viewing. If inclined, they could have shelled out that money, hooked their laptops up to a television and displayed the telecast on a bigger screen.

That was a solution for some fans. But it is way too inconvenient for most. Many had to resort to the radio or get updates via play-by-play on a random sports outlet. Central Michigan Life provided live chat and game coverage straight from Tucson, Ariz.

But if you’re a program pushing for national prominence, how is it okay to keep your loyal fans anxiously awaiting the start of the football season from watching their team play a Bowl Championship Series opponent?

Playing in markets on the other side of the country is not national exposure when die-hard Chippewas fans have to resort to the internet for updates. Think of who is more important — the people who pay to come see your games at Kelly/Shorts Stadium or people who had no idea a Central Michigan University existed before it took the field against their team.

CMU still has plenty of away games to play this season — six, in fact. Some of those games, especially Saturday’s at Michigan State, could be entertaining. Thankfully, that game is on ESPN2.

But from now on, the university and the athletics department should push to have every single away game televised for fans.