People are going to stop listening to the media...

[M.D. Holloway]

Everything published seems to be urgent and serious and a catastrophe just waiting to happen (from storms to the politico). At some point no one is going to take anything reported seriously. Then something big will happen and it will go unheard. Cry wolf....

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I stopped watching television news (and shortly thereafter television in general) during the 2009 recession. The steady drum beat of "the sky is falling" and "the end of the world is nigh" and all the rest of it became utterly insufferable. It didn't take long to realize after turning off the idiot box (and not going to sensationalist-pumping MSM outlets online) that I was better off for it and could obtain real information about the things that actually matter and potentially affect my life by seeking out other, less froth-frenzied communiques.

In other words, we're already there. The media has become nothing more than sensationalist tripe - flashy lights and bold, screaming headlines about every minor, irrelevant non-story, all intended to create (for the indiscriminate or weak-willed) riveting entertainment that can then be mingled with high-priced advertising intent on selling those same people pickup trucks, viagra pills or low-quality beer. They have whored out journalism for the allure of the promise of easy money through wanton hucksterism.

The "news" (really television in general - but particularly the "news" programs) are the instrument of the blunting of the American intellect. When an addict or junkie slides down the road to ruin, he or she becomes accustomed to lower doses, requiring ever-more and ever-higher, more intense doses to get the same thrill, until it gets to toxic levels that often kill them.

So it is - exactly - with our country and its addiction to "news" entertainment. Sadly, we are OD-ing and we may not survive it.

[onewhippedpuppy]

The only news I watch is our local 30 minute broadcast, too short for any interjection of opinion. I don't care to have talking heads make my decisions for me, give me the FACTS and let me decide.

[dad911]

Originally Posted by M.D. Holloway

Everything published seems to be urgent and serious and a catastrophe just waiting to happen (from storms to the politico). At some point no one is going to take anything reported seriously. Then something big will happen and it will go unheard. Cry wolf....

Yup, already happened with hurricance Sandy. To many missed calls before, many didn't take that one seriously.

[sc_rufctr]

I dumped commercial TV years ago. No going back. News? Online only and I've become really good at sniffing out the BS. (I hope)

If it's really big or important someone will tell me about it. I don't read news papers anymore either.

[jyl]

I don't watch TV news, haven't for over a decade.

I get most of my news from mainstream print/online news (New York Times, Washington Post, Economist, Wall St Journal, etc), from specialist print/online sources (Barrons, etc), from topic-specific online sources (Ars, Slashdot, 538, Seeking Alpha, Bloomberg, WeatherUnderground, and a list of blogs), and from specialist financial sources.

I don't bother with sources are more spin than fact. I realize that every now and then, Breitbart will turn up an actual fact before anyone else, but I don't have time to wade through the other 99% that is spin and untruth.

I read multiple articles about each item, try to sort out the core of truth vs the periphery of spin.

I sometimes seek out foreign news sources, to see a non-US-centric angle on things. That takes more effort.

On many topics, you can do your own research, without relying on what bloggers and reporters say. The internet makes it easy to get to lots of data, so you just have add some thought.

By not watching TV, the average person could free up hours per day to, well, read the news.

[KNS]

All the 24 hour news outlets are equally bad. What's funny is that a story that happened yesterday afternoon is BREAKING NEWS for the next three days.

Nobody simply reports the news anymore - it's all opinion.

[wdfifteen]

Please define the "The Media" that you are so disdainful of. Just about everything you know or think you know about world affairs came to you through the news media. I keep hearing people dismiss "The Media" and then turn around and describe the media outlets they trust. I suspect "The Media" is just a broad description for media outlets people personally don't trust - or is there a list somewhere? And why do people continually complain about new outlets they claim not to pay any attention to?

[sc_rufctr]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

Please define the "The Media" that you are so disdainful of. Just about everything you know or think you know about world affairs came to you through the news media. I keep hearing people dismiss "The Media" and then turn around and describe the media outlets they trust. I suspect "The Media" is just a broad description for media outlets people personally don't trust - or is there a list somewhere? And why do people continually complain about new outlets they claim not to pay any attention to?

Commercial TV media is tainted IMO. The online sources I use a varied. Yes, they're media but I use a mix of sources and come to my own conclusion.

[Dantilla]

The news departments at ABC, NBC and CBS used to be a separate arm from the entertainment programs that had to generate revenue.
Commercial space sold on "I Love Lucy" had to support Lucy and Walter Cronkite.

Now news departments are supposed to earn a profit, hence the all out war to generate click bait. It's all about ratings.

[Dantilla]

It also makes a difference- Walter Cronkite was on for a half-hour each evening to cover the day's news.

Now we have 24-hour news channels. They're not going to have anybody watching unless they sensationalize a tad.

[Don Ro]

I'm a news junky...talk radio and TV. I'm watchful for conservative fanatics as much as the liberal goons.
I watch Fox's O'Reilly Factor to get the straightest poop out there. Bill O. frequently will "out" other news medias by posting their lies and then telling the truth about what's so. So much liberal bias in the MSM which is geared to spin the truth as their motive is to sway & brainwash the ignorant masses (low information voters).

[tabs]

Originally Posted by Dantilla

The news departments at ABC, NBC and CBS used to be a separate arm from the entertainment programs that had to generate revenue.
Commercial space sold on "I Love Lucy" had to support Lucy and Walter Cronkite.

Now news departments are supposed to earn a profit, hence the all out war to generate click bait. It's all about ratings.

"Network" 1975. Paddy Chafysky scathing take on network news. All basically has come true.

[Crowbob]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

The only news I watch is our local 30 minute broadcast, too short for any interjection of opinion. I don't care to have talking heads make my decisions for me, give me the FACTS and let me decide.

Don't be so sure. Most likely your local news is just as opinionated as any other news source. Local news is still under the control of the networks and of course the FCC.

It isn't so much as what they say as it is about how they say it-and don't say it. Here, locally, there have been an increasingly number of drug arrests, for example, subsequent to 'routine traffic stops'. What they don't say is that certain 'persons of interest' were under surveillance by virtue of triangulating their locations and contacts via cell phone usage, etc.

Even the choices of puff pieces and human interest stories they publish can manipulate the people's awareness and/or ignorance of what is really going on. I don't remember the Patriot Act ever having been rescinded.

Coverage of local elections, millages and proposals can be heavily slanted to be in accordance with the station managers' and owners' opinions simply by airing-or not airing-man in the street interviews which almost always appear to be random.

[tabs]

You all know I have been calling this election cycle a CARNIVAL FREAK SHOW.

This morning FAUX NOISE has called it a CIRCUS.

Ahead of the curve a.gain

[john70t]

How many opinion pieces are proactive?
Ones that explain current events and possible future solutions.
Ones that make people consider and think.

How many diverse stories are there out there?
Is everything in world events covered or is just one story hammered on by 20 different people for weeks at a time.

How informative are these stories?
Do they educate the public on current events such as changes to tax laws or education costs.
Do they cover practical subjects such as the aging population, new science, and how to fix things.

[masraum]

"People" are not going to stop watching the news.

"People" are stupid. "People" are the reason that TV has been flooded with "reality" TV about twits, twats, and the nuts in our society. People love to watch that crap. People love WWE and Nascar. People believe everything that they read on facebook as fact.

Some of us will (or did a long time ago) stop watching the news. I do look at Home - BBC News 2-3 times a week most weeks. I take most "news" that I see/hear with a grain of salt and assume that I don't have the full story.

[cstreit]

Anger and fear are the two most easily invoked emotions. Emotions create attention. Attention sells newspapers. /Thread.

[manbridge 74]

It's 2016. Everyone, from priest to politician, is grinding an axe.

People of low intelligence claim their news comes from unbiased sources.

[SCadaddle]

43 years later and here we are.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRnNDkHb0MU