An hour a day of reality TV

You can read more in the CNN press release, but here's the gist:

As part of a collaborative effort to draw upon CNN News Group’s international services, CNN/U.S. will offer a simulcast of CNN International’s Your World Today from noon to 1 p.m. (ET) each weekday, it was announced today by Jon Klein, president of CNN/U.S. The simulcast will begin Monday, June 6.

"The simulcast demonstrates the depth and reach of the entire CNN News Group and not just one domestic network," Klein said. "We cover international news better than anyone. Why not give our U.S. viewers a real opportunity to see the type of stories they cannot see anywhere else?"

"Can't see anywhere else," indeed--you certainly can't see it on the dumbed-down, jingoistic, tabloid-ized US version of CNN. When I was in Ireland and England last year, I was astonished to be reminded how much different the international CNN was--it's almost like . . . real journalism! No American flag-waving, no slavish devotion to Karl Rove's Talking Points Of The Day[tm], and perhaps best of all, no coverage of the idiotic Jerry Springer-esque stories that American viewers apparently can't get enough of.

As dcmediagirl.com cautiously observes, "No one in Hong Kong gives a fuck about bug-eyed American runaway brides."

It's only an hour a day--and unfortunately it's scheduled for 9am Pacific time--but it's worth catching if you can, just for to see the difference. If my cable company offered CNNI as a premium channel, I'd subscribe in a heartbeat.