Why would any news channel run chyrons during their broadcasts?
Chyrons are those annoying streaming banners at the bottom of your screen. They seem to be feeding you the lastet headlines, mixed in with advertisements for the site’s reatured programs.
This is misguided. It is well known that no one can pay attention to two things a once. (The best you can do is to switch attention from one thing to another and back, very fast.) So, the chyron simply distracts your attention from the actual news that is being presented, and you never get the message.
“In June and July 2009, with Democrats in charge, the Senate health committee spent nearly 60 hours over 13 days marking up the bill that became the Affordable Care Act. That September and October, the Senate Finance Committee worked on the legislation for eight days — its longest markup in two decades. It considered more than 130 amendments and held 79 roll-call votes. The full Senate debated the health care bill for 25 straight days before passing it on Dec. 24, 2009.”
–NY Times
The President…shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.
U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section 2, Clause 1
Also, from the Heritage Constitution Guide:
The possibility of a President pardoning himself for a crime is not precluded by the explicit language of the Constitution, and, during the summer of 1974, some of President Richard M. Nixon’s lawyers argued that it was constitutionally permissible. But a broader reading of the Constitution and the general principles of the traditions of United States law might lead to the conclusion that a self-pardon is constitutionally impermissible. It would seem to violate the principles that a man should not be a judge in his own case; that the rule of law is supreme and the United States is a nation of laws, not men; and that the President is not above the law.
- James Pfiffner
- Professor of Public Policy
- George Mason University