Has Anyone STOPPED Watching/Reading the News?

[harley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bclover Lead story...Kim Kardashian got robbed. Wraps up the quality of news nicely

DW was flipping through the channels last night and stopped to listen to this story for a minute. The breathless and incredibly dramatic delivery by the female talking head was so over the top we both broke out laughing. I had to check and make sure we weren't watching The Onion or SNL.

[Dcharles]

Seems the national news comes from one source and it is slanted and political. I don't trust the national media to tell us the truth.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

[Midpack]

Does (the current state of) news emulate the electorate or vice versa?

The lack of balance is very discouraging. There are way more biased-partisan-opinion news outlets these days than sources who even pretend to offer a balanced view from both sides of any given discussion. The major networks aren't even balanced these days, they're just more subtle with their biases, often using omission to present their bias.

And if you read the views of most individuals, they're biases are even more blatant, often parroting sound bites from their chosen biased "news" sources (with little if any underlying understanding). Why think for yourself when others will do it for you [/sarcasm]. They'll offer evidence in support of their position, while consciously omitting any counter positions. No where is this more obvious than the current Presidential race. We see articles showing all the lies a candidate has told, without acknowledging the lies the other candidate has told.

Sad state of affairs, but which came first?

I deliberately watch/listen to partisans from BOTH sides, not one or the other, and then draw my own conclusions. It's the only way to consume news these days IMHO...

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Al in Ohio Conspiracy theorists believe the news is dumbed down.or slanted Those of us who are "well informed" and prefer to stay on top of things do not subscribe to such nonsense. ...

Wow. So anyone who has a different viewpoint from a self-proclaimed "well informed" person like yourself must be a 'conspiracy theorist' who subscribes to 'nonsense'? Or were you being sarcastic, and I missed it? Do you really think the news is not dumbed down and/or slanted?

I'm much more in alignment with the view that Midpack expressed here:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Midpack ... The lack of balance is very discouraging. There are way more biased-partisan-opinion news outlets these days than sources who even pretend to offer a balanced view from both sides of any given discussion. The major networks aren't even balanced these days, they're just more subtle with their biases, often using omission to present their bias. ... I deliberately watch/listen to partisans from BOTH sides, not one or the other, and then draw my own conclusions. It's the only way to consume news these days IMHO...

And I feel the subtle bias is the most dangerous - people may not realize they are being manipulated. Without getting too far into this and turning into a current political debate (which will get the thread shut down), I will note that we seem to live in a 'sound bite' world. Many of the sound bites out there today are snippets w/o context. They seem to say something, but they often say the opposite when you fill in the context. But the context takes 2 or 3 sentences, maybe a bit of background explanation, and maybe a little critical thinking. That get's drowned out by the snappy sound bite. Sad.

To the last part of the Midpack quote above, when I hear a news item from either side that I think is worth knowing about, I will dig a little deeper and look for the source material. Most of the time, I find the source was taken out of context and the presentation was slanted (both 'sides' do it). But how many people have the time and/or inclination to do that research (which is pretty easy these days, thanks to the Internet)? Probably not the vast majority of voters.

-ERD50

[HFWR]

The sad fact is that many think the mainstream media is "biased", so they start getting their "news" from alt sources, which don't even try to hide their bias...

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dcharles Seems the national news comes from one source and it is slanted and political. I don't trust the national media to tell us the truth. Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

I've pretty much concluded that all the national news sources are owned by large corporations, and that ultimately drives the content. Investigative or in depth journalism is seen as too expensive. Relaying important and accurate information to the customer and voter is clearly not a priority. In fact, they seem perfectly content to pass along hogwash, and simply don't care about truth in reporting any more. It's all driven by advertising dollars and corporate bias/goals.

PBS has it's own focus, bias and spin. It's independent of corporate interests, but I still see it as strongly focused in certain areas and not generally balanced. I got tired of it as a source long ago as the slant on any given story seemed very predictable, and they seem to ignore so much.

So, I watch or listen to none of the local or national news broadcast media anymore.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Al in Ohio Conspiracy theorists believe the news is dumbed down.or slanted Those of us who are "well informed" and prefer to stay on top of things do not subscribe to such nonsense. Yes there are commercials and the occasional stories about something you care less about, but that's what a DVR and a 30 second commercial skip button are for. Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

I believe that part of the manipulation from broadcast news is to constantly reinforce to the user they are well informed because they are watching the program. The language used in ads for the night's top new stories clearly show this manipulation.

Yes, I believe there is a conspiracy - a conspiracy to make you watch as much TV news as possible, keep you glued to your seat, make you feel like you will seriously miss out (i.e. not be adequately informed) if you don't watch every night. Of course they all manipulate the delivery so you have to sit through most of the time period to get to that urgent story they were advertising all day.

I know people who have bought into this idea hook line and sinker - if they don't get their daily news fix, they feel left out, disoriented, with nothing to worry about or gnash their teeth over. It's quite telling when you are on a cruise with no satellite TV - after a few days people start grumbling about not having CNN or whatever, not knowing "what is going on out in the world", and even ready to contact family members to find out what is going on. This was in the day of no internet or cell phone access when out in remote areas like Alaska. IMO - these folks had been trained like Pavlov's dogs to become anxious at news time and tune into the news of the day so they could experience their daily worry fix. These days such passengers probably do stay connected - not so easy to escape anymore.

We were out camping for several days when Challenger exploded, and so did not find out until several days later - and probably just then because we noticed flags at half mast (a fairly common way for us to find out happenings even these days). A tragedy for sure, and even one close to me because I knew had met several astronauts during my coop career. But was it critical that we knew about it when we were out camping and birding? Did it really make a difference? No. Plenty of reporting after the fact if you really wanted to know what happened.

[Sunny]

While I agree with those that have pointed out you don't need to constantly follow the news and large news events will reach you anyway, I miss the news these days. I don't purposefully not follow news, other activities and a wife that can't stand the news means I don't get much of it anymore.

I also think if somebody is interested in the news they shouldn't just use one source. Some of have said they will listen to pundits from both sides, and that is fine. Selecting more liberal leaning mainstream outlets and the ones that may be a bit more conservative is great.

But also throw in some world news sources too. Some may have a skew bent to their own country, but that doesn't mean seeing it from their viewpoint isn't still valuable.

[Koolau]

I'm not so much concerned with the biases. They are actually pretty well known. Each outlet and each commentator (but more importantly, each "hard" news person) eventually allows their bias to be known. What I can no longer endure is watching the nation become completely different than the nation I grew up in. We could argue all day long about whether that change is "good" or "bad." That would get political really quickly (can you smell the bacon?). What I don't think is debatable (but I'm sure it will be, heh, heh) is that the nation has rather significantly changed. You decide good or bad, so YMMV.

[antmary]

I read the news online; I know it's biased. When things get too negative or have nothing to do with my life, I focus on reading, or catching up on the movies I never got a chance to see when I was working - via Netflix. I agree that our nation (and the world in general) has changed from the time I was growing up in the 50's and 60's. Maybe I was just gullible then, but things seemed to be more hopeful.

[bob boag]

May you live in interesting times.

[redduck]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Midpack ...Why think for yourself when others will do it for you [/sarcasm]...

Darn good example of my not needing to think if you were being sarcastic or not.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bob boag May you live in interesting times.

I don't need the times to get any more interesting, thank you very much!!!!

[Winemaker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HFWR The sad fact is that many think the mainstream media is "biased", so they start getting their "news" from alt sources, which don't even try to hide their bias...

The recent Wiki-leaks releases proves and supports how biased the mainstream media really is.

[Amethyst]

Interesting. I didn't assume the nation has changed that much. I thought I was just becoming more aware of how things are across the country.

During the past 20 years, I undertook jobs with a larger scope than before; lived overseas and traveled a fair bit; and investigated potential retirement locations, all of which turned out to be smug, comfortable enclaves surrounded by vast swaths of people barely scratching a living, if they bothered to scratch at all. It made me think, in a small sense, of what some political candidates have said they feel after stumping the country for months on end: "There's a whole United States that I never knew existed."

Also during that time, I became active in the social media universe, where I learned that some relatives and friends, whom I thought I knew well, actually have very different attitudes than I do. I still don't see how some of them can hold those attitudes. It's like they're hanging onto them with both hands and both feet in the face of all reason and evidence. Then again, they probably think the same thing about me. So anyway, I suspect "things" today aren't different, so much as they are better known.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koolau I'm not so much concerned with the biases. They are actually pretty well known. Each outlet and each commentator (but more importantly, each "hard" news person) eventually allows their bias to be known. What I can no longer endure is watching the nation become completely different than the nation I grew up in. We could argue all day long about whether that change is "good" or "bad." That would get political really quickly (can you smell the bacon?). What I don't think is debatable (but I'm sure it will be, heh, heh) is that the nation has rather significantly changed. You decide good or bad, so YMMV.

[gerntz]

I'm avoiding national/world news as it sickens/depresses me. I watch local, but when they interject national stuff, I dump them too. I stay informed reading, but I can pick when & how much depression I get.

[harley]

I don't really have anything to add right now, I just wanted to get one more comment in before Porky's visit.

[Amethyst]

Harley is right. We're all being so careful, we aren't really saying much. Here comes the piggy on his little trike...

[Germonico]

".....piggy on his little trike" Now that is the type of story headline I could read everyday......sounds pretty amusing!

[REWahoo]

Here ya go...