We disport. We deride: it's all attitude, all the time at FOX News. (Media).

FOX NEWS ALERT," SCREAMS the screen, in red. "FOX NEWS LEARNS OF POSSIBLE THREAT TO NY HARBOR." DO we have your attention now? Who cares if FOX's reporter goes on to say that the New Year's Eve threat is "uncorroborated, noncredible [sic] and suspect"? Attention will be paid.

Attention is television's everyday grail--its prize, its power and glory, its advertisers' delight and necessity. How to get it and keep it is about the only subject that network chiefs take seriously. There's nothing new about this, but the means have been transformed. Pre-cable, ...