infotainment

Infotainment is a popular moniker given to television programming where the lines between reality and entertainment have become increasingly blurred.

On the one hand, on so-called "reality" programs like Survivor and American Idol,  ordinary people compete in extraordinary situations for big prizes. This might be labeled infotainment.

More often, however, infotainment refers to "soft journalism" — or news reporting where celebrities like Britney Spears and Michael Jackson, might compete with sensational stories like a murder trial or a UFO sighting for broadcast lead-in. Because of this, "infotainment" has taken some criticism over how so-called "fluff"  often takes precedence over more substantive news, such as the debate over health care or the latest statistics on the economy.

As both the internet and cable news sources like MSNBC, TMZ and Fox News have become more prevalent, criticism has also been leveled towards political commentators like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and Keith Olbermann for the way they report "news" as entertainment, and often with their own largely partisan political spin. Media critics are quick to note that today's "infotainment" bares little resemblance to the more objective standards once practiced by television journalists like Walter Cronkite.

You'll find some of the more "infotaining blogs" out there by pointing your browser towards Deadline Hollywood Daily and Olbermann Watch.

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Latest blogosphere posts tagged “infotainment”

• Help me, hive mind.

  
  Grimsaburger — Authority: 118
  One way to read this map is to conclude, like Matt Yglesias , et al , that “ white men are not very progressive .” But sometimes there are other, more creative and ultimately more compelling explanations for soci0-political phenomena.  I can’t think of any at the moment, so this is where you come in.
  1 week ago

• BREAKING: Hyundai developing competitor for OnStar, Sync... but new system needs a name

  
  Autoblog — Authority: 785
  Filed under: Marketing/Advertising , Technology , Hyundai Hyundai Equus - Click above for high-res image gallery As part of its product and marketing development process, Hyundai has reached out to owners and enthusiasts to create a network of consumers with which to discuss everything from future ...
  1 week ago

• Rita Cosby’s Friend Slams John O’Quinn – Virgie Arthur on Geraldo Tonight – Harvey Levin Allows his Disdain for Howard K. Stern Show – Lin Wood Plays “Where’s all the Hard Drives” in South Carolina.

  
  Rose speaks - Celebrity and High Profile Trials — Authority: 127
  With a head line like that you can just imagine where this article is going.I woke up this morning to a bunch of B. S. in my in box and was sure this was a surreal Trick or Treat Halloween prank and a pretty good one I thought. That is until I realized it was [...]
  1 week ago

• Rita Cosby’s Friend Says John O’Quinn Still a Drunk – Virgie Arthur on Geraldo Tonight – Harvey Levin Allows his Disdain for Howard K. Stern Show – Lin Wood Plays “Where’s all the Hard Drives” in South Carolina.

  
  Rose speaks - Celebrity and High Profile Trials — Authority: 127
  With a head line like that you can just imagine where this article is going.I woke up this morning to a bunch of B. S. in my in box and was sure this was a surreal Trick or Treat Halloween prank and a pretty good one I thought. That is until I realized it was [...]
  1 week ago

• Virgie Arthur on Geraldo Tonight – Harvey Levin Allows Disdain for Howard K. Stern to Show – Lin Wood Plays “Where’s all the Hard Drives” in South Carolina.

  
  Rose speaks - Celebrity and High Profile Trials — Authority: 127
  With a head line like that you can just imagine where this article is going.I woke up this morning to a bunch of B. S. in my in box and was sure this was a surreal Trick or Treat Halloween prank and a pretty good one I thought. That is until I realized it was [...]
  1 week ago

• Rita Cosby’s Friend Says John O’Quinn Still a Drunk – Virgie Arthur on Geraldo Tonight – Harvey Levin Allows his Distain for Howard K. Stern Show – Lin Wood Plays “Where’s all the Hard Drives” in South Carolina.

  
  Rose speaks - Celebrity and High Profile Trials — Authority: 127
  With a head line like that you can just imagine where this article is going.I woke up this morning to a bunch of B. S. in my in box and was sure this was a surreal Trick or Treat Halloween prank and a pretty good one I thought. This is until I realized it was [...]
  1 week ago

• Renesas SH7777 SoC Devices for Car Navigation and Infotainment Systems

  
  Embedded Star — Authority: 434
  Renesas Technology America introduced the SH7777 (SH-NaviJ3) system-on-chip (SoC) device for compact portable navigation and infotainment systems and low- and mid-priced dashboard-mounted car navigation and infotainment systems. It speeds up development through OpenGL ES1.1 support and offers enhanced multimedia ...
  2 weeks ago

• NRK-vonbrot

  
  Vidd — Authority: 113
  DECLASSIFIED: Jeg kan fortelle litt. Da jeg i 98 fikk tilbud om jobb i NRKs nettavsnitt Interaktiv, hadde ledelsen der en rapport ute med noen vyer og visjoner. Dagsrevyen skulle bli til en flermedial greie, der bakgrunnsinfo var lett klikkbar for alle innslagene, samlesider for saker og tema lå sirlig organisert ...
  2 weeks ago

• Southwest builds first ‘green plane,’ Ma Earth shows her gratitude

  
  F-Default — Authority: 561
            Southwest Airlines may not own a plane with a headrest infotainment system, but it’s still far and away the most enjoyable commercial flight you’ll find in the US of A (save for Virgin America , naturally). Granted, we’d like to see in-flight WiFi offered on a few more of its flights (read: 100 ...
  2 weeks ago

• TomTom Go I-90 integrates into any dashboard, brings radio ‘infotainment’

  
  CV.NET — Authority: 144
  TomTom has been on a mission to keep itself relevant as smartphones increasingly start to overstep on its territory, (more…)
  3 weeks ago

• New TomTom GO I-90 brings In-Dash Navigation

  
  Desinformado.com — Authority: 440
  The new TomTom GO I-90 is a double DIN navigation and radio solution, integrating world-class navigation and in-car infotainment for all types of cars. Traditionally, integrated navigation solutions come pre-fitted in new cars. This leaves little opportunity for those who want integrated navigation, but don’t ...
  3 weeks ago

• On the Balloon Side Show, The Infotaining Media, and Representative Democracy

  
  OUPblog — Authority: 567
  Elvin Lim is Assistant Professor of Government at Wesleyan University and author of The Anti-intellectual Presidency , which draws on interviews with more than 40 presidential speechwriters to investigate this relentless qualitative decline, over the course of 200 years, in our presidents’ ability to communicate ...
  3 weeks ago

• TomTom Go I-90 integrates into any dashboard, brings radio ‘infotainment’

  
  KIJO — Authority:
  TomTom has been on a mission to keep itself relevant as smartphones increasingly start to overstep on its territory, and the GO I-90 is another move in its counteroffensive plan. Capable of slotting into the double DIN slot usually reserved for in-car radio / music players, its big selling point is that it ...
  3 weeks ago

• TomTom Go I-90 integrates into any dashboard, brings radio infotainment

  
  Engadget — Authority: 878
  TomTom has been on a mission to keep itself relevant as smartphones increasingly start to overstep on its territory, and the GO I-90 is another move in its counteroffensive plan. Capable of slotting into the double DIN slot usually reserved for in-car radio / music players, its big selling point is that it ...
  3 weeks ago

• TomTom Go I-90 integrates into any dashboard, brings radio ‘infotainment’

  
  F-Default — Authority: 561
  TomTom has been on a mission to keep itself relevant as smartphones increasingly start to overstep on its territory, and the GO I-90 is another move in its counteroffensive plan. Capable of slotting into the double DIN slot usually reserved for in-car radio / music players, its big selling point is that it integrates ...
  3 weeks ago

• TomTom Go I-90 integrates into any dashboard, brings radio ‘infotainment’

  
  Family Learning Center — Authority: 161
  [IMG: http://www.family-learning-center.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-o-matic/cache/8b0ac_oct2009_ttgoi90.jpg]
  3 weeks ago

• On the Balloon Side Show, the Infotaining Media, and Representative Democracy

  
  Out on a Lim — Authority: 106
  Last week, America came to a stand-still as we stood enraptured by television images of a runaway balloon carrying, so we thought, a six-year-old boy. Flimsy as the silver contraption appeared, we gladly suspended all disbelief that the balloon contained enough helium to be carrying a boy within so we could enjoy the ...
  3 weeks ago

• 
  Maegan Carberry — Authority: 490
  
  3 weeks ago

• Smart Phone Apps Battle Spreads to Car Market

  
  TRENDBIRD (What's Next Big Thing ?) — Authority: 438
  The market for smart phone applications—or “apps”—has emerged as a central battlefront in the global technology industry, with device manufacturers, wireless service providers and software developers fighting it out for a share of this fast-growing market. This contest now has spread to the automotive market, ...
  4 weeks ago

• TomTom launches Blue&Me GPS Infotainment for the Fiat

  
  Desinformado.com — Authority: 440
  TomTom unveils all details of the Blue&Me – TomTom, an integrated infotainment system with a portable navigation device co-developed with Fiat Group Automobiles. The Blue&Me – TomTom will deliver award-winning navigation technology to Fiat drivers by integrating it into multiple car models of Fiat Group ...
  8 weeks ago

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