Anyone else NOT watch the news?

[audreyh1]

Interested in only the weather report not all the depressing news stuff.
However, I only need to hear a short version of the weather report not a repeated prologue.

I use the Weather Channel app - plenty of detail and IMO more useful than any evening broadcast news. I subscribe and avoid ads. I use it heavily when traveling or planning outings.

 

[Trailwalker]

I read several newspapers, but I don't watch the news.

 

[Qs Laptop]

My DW is a Fox News junkie - has it on the tv most of the time at home and almost all the time while we're driving. So I'm inundated with news when DW is around. But I hardly ever catch any news when I'm by myself.

Oh boy, you have my full sympathy.

 

[W2R]

I have always been a "news junkie". I want to know what's going on!

But in the past few years, I feel most standard news sources have become somewhat biased (one way or the other). I was brought up in the days when editorials were mostly on the editorial page, and news was mostly on the front page, so this bothers me.

Consequently I don't read or listen to mainstream news any more. Instead I spend a lot of time searching out unconventional news sources with the least possible bias. So I guess, all in all, I spend MORE time on the news than ever.

I actually am at the point that I tell people, if you aren't going to make the effort to dig in and find the actual source info and decide for yourselves, you should just ignore what the news said about it, or it's probably pretty safe to assume the opposite is closer to the truth. It really is about that bad.

-ERD50

+100

 

[TheWizard]

One thing that bothers me about the various cable news channels is: there's no laugh-track.
Would it ruin CNN/MSNBC/Fox News to delay their live feed thirty seconds so that they could overlay a decent laugh-track on the commentary?

 

[ERD50]

... I was brought up in the days when editorials were mostly on the editorial page, and news was mostly on the front page, so this bothers me. ...

That's an excellent point. So much of the 'news' is editorialized, sometimes subtly (maybe the most dangerous?), sometimes not subtle at all.

Yes, editorials are for the editorial page. Then I can read it with that in mind.

-ERD50

 

[Closet_Gamer]

I watch CNBC every morning. If something specific is going on we will turn on CNN.

Otherwise, I’m an online news junkie.

The RealClear news sites are excellent and diversely opinioned. My Google News feed knows what im curious about. I still check out Sky News from my time in the UK. The Guardian is good. I have a NYT subscription and I think I’m going to add either WSJ or Economist.

I don’t like all the melodrama but I do like to be well read.

 

[aja8888]

Am I alone?

No!

 

[yhoomajor]

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/

There are two sides to every story. This site does a decent job of providing both sides of a story at the same time (right next to each other). Will disappoint most folks because it provides narrative from other side as well.

 

[Lewis Clark]

I catch headlines from a variety of sources but almost never watch the news. Too much bad news and rarely much good news.

I leave the room when my wife watches the evening news.

 

[mystang52]

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/

There are two sides to every story. This site does a decent job of providing both sides of a story at the same time (right next to each other). Will disappoint most folks because it provides narrative from other side as well.

OP here. I will check out this link. As I wrote in the thread starter - although in hindsight I mistitled this thread - I get a daily email with headlines and very brief description. I'll then use internet to look into any stories I want to get into more. I can cut through the chaff of biased reporting (yes, from either political side), but I get worked up pretty quickly on the more important stories. So even when I research, I keep it limited..........and always just in the early part of the day.

 

[pletal]

While I come from a family of news watchers.. I really thinking about 95% of news has zero effect on my life.
The remaining 5% might have some effect but I can't do much about it.

The one big exception is if I travel, then I want to know the news for that area in detail. So I can have a better/safer trip.

Same as me. I follow CD rates and weather. Don’t follow politics until about 2 weeks before election. For me following most politics is like studying a menu a year before going to a restaurant. And news about the field that I make my living in

 

[misanman]

Gave up on MSM years ago. As others have said, I curate my news from various online sources.

 

[Midpack]

Not watching news and being uninformed is not the answer IMO, unfortunately you just have to be a lot more selective now than ever before. Ironically most people are more selective now, BUT too many deliberately or unwittingly select biased news sources. I never watch CNN, MSNBC, Fox News or similar. There’s only one TV news source we watch regularly, and a couple YouTube channels - though there are way more blatantly biased “news” channels on YouTube than mainstream TV now.

It’s a very serious sad situation, we’ve never had more misinformed, divided citizens than we have today - and more militant minded people. If viewers really wanted more fair and balanced news, we’d have more of it - most people want to hear their tribes spin on the news, to be told what to think, to have what they already believe reinforced. They never seek out other points of view, or they’d know better…

 

[sparky08]

As has been said, "You can ignore the news and be uninformed, or follow the news and be misinformed." I believe that to be a sad truth.

-ERD50

I don't see a lot of 'news'. It seems to be more of the writer's opinion. I'd pay for an impartial delivery of the news.

So, over the years, I've watched less and less.

 

[Closet_Gamer]

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/

There are two sides to every story. This site does a decent job of providing both sides of a story at the same time (right next to each other). Will disappoint most folks because it provides narrative from other side as well.

The whole RealClear family is excellent.

https://www.realclearmarkets.com
https://www.realcleardefense.com
https://www.realclearenergy.com

There are several others. If you visit one of these, they list they family of sites in a bar across the top of the site you're visiting.

 

[Bigdawg]

Not watching news and being uninformed is not the answer IMO, unfortunately you just have to be a lot more selective now than ever before. Ironically most people are more selective now, BUT too many deliberately or unwittingly select biased news sources. I never watch CNN, MSNBC, Fox News or similar. There’s only one TV news source we watch regularly, and a couple YouTube channels - though there are way more blatantly biased “news” channels on YouTube than mainstream TV now.

It’s a very serious sad situation, we’ve never had more misinformed, divided citizens than we have today - and more militant minded people. If viewers really wanted more fair and balanced news, we’d have more of it - most people want to hear their tribes spin on the news, to be told what to think, to have what they already believe reinforced. They never seek out other points of view, or they’d know better…

I agree with what you say except the bolded. We (the viewers) can't demand accurate, unbiased reporting. Well, we can but who is going to listen. I don't want to hear what "my tribe" is saying. I want to hear the unbiased truth and then I'll form my opinion. We are divided because the news outlets are divided and like to keep us divided. There is $ in division.

I watch zero news on TV. I do listen rarely to some on the radio. I get the vast majority of my news from mutiple sources and try my best to screen out the bias. I'll typically read a story from three different sources to try and find the truth.

I saw my parents get weird when they retired watching news basically 24/7. I'm seeing it now with a friend of the family. I don't get the appeal.

I'm informed. Just not by WATCHING the news.

 

[Flieger]

I do listen to some news when I want to, usually a non-partisan source if possible.

I'd love to find one of those. Haven't yet (including overseas).

Flieger

 

[CaptTom]

...My Google News feed knows what im curious about...

NO!! News aggregator/Social Media sites know what will keep you "engaged." In other words, p*ssed off enough to stay on line feeding your anger.

Note that we've already had one moderator warning NOT to identify specific news outlets or political positions.

I'd hate to see this thread shut down.

It’s a very serious sad situation, we’ve never had more misinformed, divided citizens than we have today - and more militant minded people. If viewers really wanted more fair and balanced news, we’d have more of it - most people want to hear their tribes spin on the news, to be told what to think, to have what they already believe reinforced. They never seek out other points of view, or they’d know better…

This sums up our situation well. And it's exactly the kind of environment which dictators and hate-filled mobs thrive in. Historically, this has never ended well.

 

[Music Lover]

I figured out that the news was biased 35 years ago when I was a teenager but it wasn't until the last few years that I realized that some of them outright lie. Media "fact checkers" didn't come along until independent people started posting the truth online and ruined their narrative.

We get our news from a variety of online sources that have proven to be accurate.

 

[Flyfish1]

We will watch David Muir on abc news a couple of times a week, and usually catch 60 Minutes on Sunday. I am on line too much these days and look at CNN, CNBC, Reuters and realclearpolitics as well as X- which can be amusing.

 

[audreyh1]

NO!! News aggregator/Social Media sites know what will keep you "engaged." In other words, p*ssed off enough to stay on line feeding your anger.

This is what it really comes down to. Broadcast and cable news was already doing this for decades.

 

[5Miler]

I worked primarily from home my last 10 years and always had a tv on in front of me for white noise if nothing else. I saw so much news I could almost anticipate the angle taken by each news source. Been retired over 12 years and went cold turkey on TV as life got in the way. I see the major hair on fire issues as blaring headlines on the internet and ignore most of the rest.

Never been happier.

I keep TV around for DGF as it is in my best interests if you know what I mean.

 

[Closet_Gamer]

NO!! News aggregator/Social Media sites know what will keep you "engaged." In other words, p*ssed off enough to stay on line feeding your anger.

I disagree. As my username suggests, I have a lot of interest in gaming and VR. I'm also involved in AI and like to understand what is happening in the research side of the world. I find solar and climate tech very interesting as well. I like airplanes and travel. I'm super interested in investing.

Google serves up articles from publications I never would have known about and does a good job of hunting articles from publications I engage with regularly.

It occassionally goes on a tangent to see what else I might be interested in. No, I don't really need articles about what went on while filming Star Wars. No, I'm not interested in what some drunk flight attendant did on a flight to Tahiti in 1973.

When that stuff comes up I ignore it or actively tell it to stop showing me that stuff.

My biggest gripe with it is that it doesn't have a button to tell it not to show me paywall blocked content. I wish I could say that I subscribe to x, y, z and if something else is behind a paywall don't put it in the feed.

 

[sparky08]

I will go on a 'new hiatus', usually for a week or two. I'll find an audio book or a good podcast and that will be what I listen to while driving, etc.

I'll also clear the news sources from my browser tabs, so I'm not tempted.