News is a commercial product. Ratings represent the value of the program to advertisers as a measure of viewership, and the news exists as a way to generate those ratings. No ratings, no advertisers, no news. As with so many other forms of media, you are not the consumer, you're the product (or more specifically, the likelihood of your attention in those all important spaces between the segments.)
Unless you want the state to control everything, how do news organizations make the money they need to put on the broadcasts, if not with ratings? They have to sell something to somebody right? Should the US have a licensing system like they have in Britain?
There are newscasts on PBS but almost nobody watches them (I do, but then I used to work at a small PBS station) and tote bags can only get you so far.
Unless you want the state to control everything, how do news organizations make the money they need to put on the broadcasts, if not with ratings? They have to sell something to somebody right? Should the US have a licensing system like they have in Britain?
There are newscasts on PBS but almost nobody watches them (I do, but then I used to work at a small PBS station) and tote bags can only get you so far.