Restaurant TVs: Dining and politics?

By Jane Feehan

In today’s politically charged world, a widescreen television at a dining or drinking establishment can be a portal to controversy.

On a recent visit to a restaurant – not a sports enclave – I noticed all five televisions were tuned into baseball, football, reruns of car racing – the whole sporting gamut.  We asked for some news – CNN or FOX – but were told the owner wouldn’t allow it. Seems choosing either CNN or Fox would generate controversy.

There’s probably some truth to that. Enter other establishments where management offers one cable news channel rather than another and it often comes off as an identifier of their political bent, intentional or not, as a few conversations reveal.

Blue-red, black-white, right-left, CNN-FOX – it’s a growing universe of dichotomies that’s increasingly uncomfortable, one we're confronted with even while dining. For the most part, we’ve worked through male-female divisions of days gone by; perhaps we’ll soon be able to build bridges across today’s issues.

Copyright ©2010. Jane Feehan. All rights reserved.