Who doesn't read/watch the news?

[audreyh1]

It's not "dropping out" and ignoring the world. It is making thoughtful decisions/choices about where, how and when we get news.

Exactly!

 

[Scuba]

Exactly!

+1

 

[Winemaker]

There was discussion about Brian Ross a ways back. I hardly see where a 4 week suspension solves anything. What are they doing to assure nothing like that ever happens again? Show me systemic changes, not a slap on the wrist to one person - who has done it before!

If news organizations had any integrity, Brian Ross would be hung out to dry, with a full investigation of who was involved in letting these fake stories get released. And Brian Ross should never be hired by any news agency again, ever - find a different line of work Mr Ross. You blew it in this one.

So the fact that all he got was a suspension tells me they are not serious, and as I check source documents I keep getting proof of it. It's rampant.


-ERD50

But the false reporting/reporters/newscasters has been going on for so long.
Cronkite with the Tet Offensive, Rather with the faked Bush letter, Williams with the faked Berlin Wall account, or his chopper hit with RPGs. Election polls with biased samples. Just to name a few off the top of my head.

Paraphrased, " If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe you." Joseph Goebbels

 

[meierlde]

But the false reporting/reporters/newscasters has been going on for so long.
Cronkite with the Tet Offensive, Rather with the faked Bush letter, Williams with the faked Berlin Wall account, or his chopper hit with RPGs. Election polls with biased samples. Just to name a few off the top of my head.

Paraphrased, " If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe you." Joseph Goebbels

Or stated otherwise news given from some ones perspective. I grew up in the Detroit area, where you could get the CBC news on the radio. During Vietnam it appeared that there were two different wars going on depending on which side of the border the broadcast came from. So beyond deliberately faked news you have news reported from a perspective which of course back in the 1960s you had very clear examples of in stories from Pravda and its ilk.

 

[kcowan]

Yes, the choice of source will introduce a different bias. Bloomberg, CBC, BBC, NPR, RT, France 24 all present their own set of biases.

 

[Nemo2]

When I returned to school, close to fifty years ago, the Business Admin building was adjacent to the one housing 'Journalism & RTA' (Radio & Television Arts).....having observed their attendees on a fairly regular basis I have no further questions.

 

[TromboneAl]

I'd like to skip the news entirely, and I did that for a few months, but Lena really wants to watch the evening news, and I can't resist anymore.

I'm currently trying to avoid opening my News360 and SmartNews Android apps. I try instead to visit this forum, a writing forum, or Instagram instead. I've gone two days so far!

Even if we skip the news, we have to watch the late-night shows, which include biased but funny stuff. We Tivo James Corden, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Kimmel, and Stephen Colbert.

 

[ERD50]

But the false reporting/reporters/newscasters has been going on for so long.
Cronkite with the Tet Offensive, Rather with the faked Bush letter, Williams with the faked Berlin Wall account, or his chopper hit with RPGs. Election polls with biased samples. Just to name a few off the top of my head.

Paraphrased, " If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe you." Joseph Goebbels

Yes, I didn't mean to imply this is a recent thing. The bias may have taken a different form in different ages, but I'm certain it was there. As they say, history does not repeat itself, but it rhymes.

-ERD50

 

[Lsbcal]

I am wondering about some of the comments here. How do people here make their personal economic decisions if they don't get at least a modest dose of national and international news? I see some astute comments on investments and future guessing here. But this is at odds with turning off all the news.

Are some selectively reducing their news intake when it comes to murders, rapes, petty politics, etc. ? That would make sense to me. Is that what you mean by "not watching the news"?

 

[ERD50]

I am wondering about some of the comments here. How do people here make their personal economic decisions if they don't get at least a modest dose of national and international news? ...

My personal economic decisions are not based on any news. How could it?

Pick an AA, go with it. Re-balance if I feel like it, but probably won't bother.

Where does "the news" fit in any of that?

-ERD50

 

[harley]

Many of these comments make me nervous. Is every one going to just ignore the world and do whatever just pleases themselves? I guess Timothy Leary represents the ER community: Turn on, Tune in, Drop out.

Do you seriously feel more informed now than back when there were three channels that showed an hour or so of news/day? I certainly don't. Just more bombarded and annoyed. How much news do you need? As I said before, I haven't missed a single important piece of information about the world despite basically not having watched a news program in decades.

I don't want to live in "Interesting times" and right now it appears that way. I too "hate" the news but I can't ignore it. And when elections come I want to know which way to vote.

And you can figure that out by watching news? I can't remember the last time I saw a national (or even state level) politician actually answer a question. I suspect you, like almost everyone these days, votes for the candidate they hate the least.

 

[audreyh1]

I am wondering about some of the comments here. How do people here make their personal economic decisions if they don't get at least a modest dose of national and international news? I see some astute comments on investments and future guessing here. But this is at odds with turning off all the news.

Are some selectively reducing their news intake when it comes to murders, rapes, petty politics, etc. ? That would make sense to me. Is that what you mean by "not watching the news"?

I think it mostly means people avoid broadcast TV radio and cable news shows - the low quality stuff. Yes, that’s what the “watching”refers to. It doesn’t mean they don’t read selective stuff on the internet or print journalism.

But I agree with ERD50 that national and international news has little bearing on my investing decisions. I peruse plenty of business/economic sites and occasionally look up some key to me economic measures. Hard to call that “news”. It’s information of course.

 

[kcowan]

I heard there was a fire in LA. I think someone mentioned it on FaceBook.

 

[audreyh1]

And you can figure that out by watching news? I can't remember the last time I saw a national (or even state level) politician actually answer a question. I suspect you, like almost everyone these days, votes for the candidate they hate the least.

Exactly! If I want to know about a candidate I have to research them myself. Newscasts tell me almost nothing. They just cover the sensational stuff.

 

[audreyh1]

I think some folks here are confusing news with accurate and useful information.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I am wondering about some of the comments here. How do people here make their personal economic decisions if they don't get at least a modest dose of national and international news? I see some astute comments on investments and future guessing here. But this is at odds with turning off all the news.

Because if I traded on "news" then I would be broke. Getting financial "news" from CNBC or FBN? Oh hell no...

And someone mentioned living in "interesting times"...yeah, we have been living in "interesting times" for at least 2000 years, and I don't think that it changing anytime soon.

Finally, there was a couple of comments about how news has been, um, less than truthful for a while now. My Dad had a good friend that died about a year ago and was a former editor for a large paper (back in the late 60's-70's) and he made it very clear that many of the stories were fabricated and/or "massaged" to keep readership up.

 

[Danmar]

Sports shows are even worse about that. I can't watch the NFL pre-game shows anymore because they all shout over each other. ESPN College Game Day devolves into this too often too.

Yes, I totally agree. The Canadian sports shows are a little better but moving in the same direction. Big mouth, opinionated, blow hards discussing sports like someone just discovered a cure for cancer. Makes you wonder a little about our society if this is where we are headed? Our preoccupation with sports, “celebrities” and gossip is worrisome.

 

[mpeirce]

I guess I'm unusual here. I subscribe to, and read, the Washington Post and the Sacramento Bee (the latter mainly for the local news because I live near there).

Maybe unusual, but not alone.

I still subscribe to two newspapers - the local Columbus Dispatch and the Wall Street Journal. And watch the 6 and 10 o'clock local news on TV. And read a number of US and overseas news sites online.

I guess I never thought any source was unbiased and giving me "The Truth"™ so I like reading a broad range of sources. When you do that it's easy to see who is leaving out what in their coverage. And the omissions are often more telling that what they report on.

I honestly still like talking politics with liberal and conservative family and friends. I do know which topics to tread lightly on (or ovoid completely in a few cases), but it's not that hard to find *some* common ground with most people.

I do avoid gossip/celebrity and sports news. Since it's not really "news" to me. To each his own.

 

[Nemo2]

Our preoccupation with sports, “celebrities” and gossip is worrisome.

Pānis et circēnsēs

 

[ERD50]

Many of these comments make me nervous. Is every one going to just ignore the world and do whatever just pleases themselves? I guess Timothy Leary represents the ER community: Turn on, Tune in, Drop out.

I don't want to live in "Interesting times" and right now it appears that way. I too "hate" the news but I can't ignore it. And when elections come I want to know which way to vote.

The trouble is, much of the "news" is twisted mis-information. And people make decisions based on that mis-information? That is what scares me. It might be better for them to 'drop out' then.

But I'm only suggesting that one might 'drop out' of accepting that news as being accurate, and research the actual source info if it is of interest to them.

-ERD50

 

[sengsational]

Many of these comments make me nervous. Is every one going to just ignore the world and do whatever just pleases themselves? I guess Timothy Leary represents the ER community: Turn on, Tune in, Drop out.

I don't want to live in "Interesting times" and right now it appears that way. I too "hate" the news but I can't ignore it. And when elections come I want to know which way to vote.

I'm a zero direct news person, and I think my votes are much more informed than most. This is because people watch the news and listen to what politicians say (you know the old joke about how to tell when a politician is lying). I use historical deeds to judge a politician. I don't spend much time on it, though, because with the gerrymandering, my vote doesn't matter. Usually I go with the FU vote... someone that has zero chance of winning, and everyone knows it. But I digress.

I actually get some of my news on this site! Smart people have thought about it, done a bit of background work on it and they're still trying to grok it, so ask a question about it. Unlike gum, news is something better if it's been chewed first (by a smart and reasonable person that has no axe to grind).

Also, some tech podcasts let a bit of news through. So I took action on the pending loss of net neutrality. Didn't have to suffer through any TV news or "push" news, but managed to do my Civic duty on a topic I think is important and where there is a tiny glimmer of hope that the will of the people will hold the day.

 

[Lsbcal]

I'm glad that many here do not trade on the news, I don't either. Sorry if I did not make that clear. I trade on data, not news. I realize most here do not trade at all, and that is fine.

On the other hand, I generally have 40% of equities in International funds. Where did this idea come from? Some of it comes from observations of the world and those observations are rarely first person. So I might read the Economist or see some Bloomberg articles that make me think I should adjust international versus US a bit. But this is a rare adjustment for me. Generally my allocations are set independent of recent events.

I agree that the news is rarely actionable. But there might be a time when it is. An example might be the outbreak of war which suggests inflation at some later date. That might mean adjusting bond durations.

 

[W2R]

I'm glad that many here do not trade on the news, I don't either. Sorry if I did not make that clear. I trade on data, not news.

I don't trade on either. In retirement, I just rebalance back to the allocations of very broad mutual funds specified in my home-brew financial plan. I guess that makes me a buy-and-hold investor.

I can't imagine what news would cause me to buy or sell other than just rebalancing. End of the world? Well at that point, why bother....

 

[Danmar]

Pānis et circēnsēs

Yes, and we know how that ended.

 

[audreyh1]

I agree that the news is rarely actionable. But there might be a time when it is. An example might be the outbreak of war which suggests inflation at some later date. That might mean adjusting bond durations.

Yeah, but it's not like someone isn't going to learn about the outbreak of a war soon enough even if they do not "watch" or listen to any news. Economic processes take time. Plenty of time for someone interested to do some research.

My point was that the "news" is so sloppily packaged, spun, and dumbed down it usually contains little useful data - often it's partial or worse flat wrong. Do a little research and you can get key data (almost) directly. I see plenty of links to FRED charts for example. That's data, not really news. The latest point might be news.

When I want to know the CPI - I go straight to the bureau of labor statistics. I know their schedule - that's easy to find out. When I want to know what the Fed is doing I look up their meeting and notes release schedules. I sometimes read their statements. I certainly read their presentation of how they were going to be doing the unwind. I may read a couple of articles that cover what they are doing lately.

Lots of economic articles are written and published that aren't actually "news" - I go back to stuff written several years ago all the time - a lot of it is still relevant and I can look up current data if needed.