Do you watch the news?

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

News radio rocks my socks! And the interwebs for in depth research on topics. I loath TV, and at this point never see my self using that terrible box for anything other than movies. I like to watch sports but that's why I live in the country where corner taverns still exist :rockin:

 

[njnear76]

News radio rocks my socks! And the interwebs for in depth research on topics. I loath TV, and at this point never see my self using that terrible box for anything other than movies. I like to watch sports but that's why I live in the country where corner taverns still exist :rockin:

The wife and I decided that we would never watch the news if we have kids. Too much violence, sensationalism, and crap. I never watch it as it is.

PBS news hour is actually not too bad. No one watches it because there are not any flashy graphics flying around the screen. Just talking and calm voices. WTF? Heh.

 

[Rhoobarb]

Interweb thingy - AP, and both local newsypapers. Local TV news is the worst for reasons noted by others. I only check it first thing in the morning for live traffic updates, since I have a long (1 hr.+) commute. I don't get home in time to watch the national news and when I am home to watch it, it's horrid. Twenty mins. of content, three mins. of actual news and ten mins. of commercials from pharmaceutical companies!

FOX, CNN, MSNBC and the like drive me nuts. I used to watch MSNBC in the evenings while I was working out for stocks and business news, but now with the Interweb thingy, I don't anymore.

News radio is banal. Same thing every few mins., their 'Shadow Traffic' reports are never correct and their content to commercials ratio is a mind-numbing 50/50!

 

[TwoHeadsBrewing]

My local newspaper is a joke...and it's also offered online. It's funny when they call and want me to buy a subscription; I always tell them if they want people to buy it they shouldn't offer it for free online. Not like I would buy it anyways...

I get part of my news from listening to NPR in the morning and evening during my "commute". The other part I get online, which to me is the ultimate news source. Between official publications, secondary news sites, blogs, etc there is just a huge amount of information available.

 

[david_42]

I think its pretty bad when people have no knowledge of anything going on, but yet seem to hold strong convections on subjects.

Nothing worse than learning the facts to weaken one's position.

The only local paper is a weekly, no cable and no TV. Can't even get much radio here. If it's not on the Intertubes, I don't see it. I'm fond of the Guardian (U.K.), myself. And FARK.

 

[WBC]

I look at the news from several sources, TV, Cable, Internet, Radio and it is so filled with talking heads any more all saying the same things and way too much election opinions. If the lame good ole boy polititions don't get busy and fix our economy we will not need beer because we won't have houses any more to brew beer in because no one will be able to pay for everything. The economy can raise prices way faster than we can get pay raises or Social Security increases.

 

[bethlehembrewer]

Yikes. I don't mean to offend anyone, but I don't consider Drudge, Al Franken, Rush, Air America, the Daily Show, Colbert Report, editorials in newspapers, etc... as new sources. They are commentators on the news and should be considered as a form of entertainment.

Journalism, which is just about dead in this country should only contain facts and never display any bias.

Interestingly enough bias does not stop there. Only a few articles make it to print. Selection is a form of bias as well.

I don't want to be a conspiracy nut, but I think it is important to realize that corporations, individuals, politicians, and so on have an agenda. They can and do choose to report the stories, which will further their cause.

A well informed citizenry in my opinion is important to preventing corruption. Our founding fathers believed in a free press primarily for that reason.

It's a shame that most of the crap on the news is entertainment related and contains very little, which could better ourselves as a society.

I think the Daily Show is pretty good news. Better than FOX, MSNBC, CNN.

I used to watch the news all day long. I interned at CBS News for 2 summers and pretty much sat and watched TV all day, as well as producing news packages. From this I can say that at the time there was no bias with CBS, ABC or NBC. I know this for CBS because I put up some of the material you saw and made sure I produced everything fairly without bias. I know most others did the same. I also know people who worked for ABC and they said the same thing. A FOX News guy I know was threatened with his job everyday if he didnt put up what they wanted.

Now I watch some morning news and read the papers, also some radio. Most is from Google and Yahoo news, both utilize AP coverage.

 

[perversatile]

news.infoshop.org

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

All news is biased. There is no way around it. You have personal bias, and therefore everything you do has your personal bias weaved into it. Whether or not, the "man" is directing what is on the news, it will still be biased by those who are choosing the stories. For example, do you believe in global warming? Have we caused it? Most TV news will say we are all melting, however, an ever growing number of people are questioning this. I think it is important to try to look at liberal, conservative, international, and local news to attempt to discern what is actually going on with any situation. There is always a fact or statistic that will back up any story.

 

[bigjohnmilford]

I try to stomach the local news for a few minutes in the morning before work. It's not really news like it used to be. It's more like the gossip shows with all the fluff and b/s they put on. I mostly just put it on to catch the weather. The banter between the anchors is enough to make me puke.

 

[DeathBrewer]

i rarely watch the news. sometimes i'll turn on fox for a while before i watch the daily show. it just makes the absurdities they point out all the more ridiculous.

i read a lot of articles, mostly on the web.

most news makes me want to puke. i don't want to hear about paris hilton going to jail or obama's ******* ex-reverend. THAT'S NOT NEWS, PEOPLE! You're not informing the public of anything with policital attacks and celebrity gossip. ugh.

 

[Dr_Deathweed]

I guess I fall into the "uninformed" category, if you are lucky, you might catch me watching 5-10 minutes of any news program in a week as I am flipping to another channel.

Sorry, but I am not going to spend hours watching TV, reading the paper, or scrolling through news websites for the tiny bit of real "news" thats in there. So I may learn about some natural disaster halfway across the world a day or two later than every one else, or hear of another soldiers death in a war no one wants to fight, or the latest bickering between the demo-twins, how a light bulb that takes 30 minutes to warm up and contains Hg is going to keep the poles from melting, how the local school got more hula-hoops, blah de blah de blah...... I could probably make up variations of the above topics and cover 99% of what is going to be covered on the "evening news". Besides, will knowing all that superfluous crap and staying "current" going to do ANYTHING for me other than make me feel even more crappy about the state of the world and the idiots that inhabit her, or allow me to look down my nose at the lesser beings that decide to remain ignorant to the world around them?

If it is really important, I will catch it by word of mouth and look it up to find out the details, otherwise, "ignorance is bliss...."

 

[njnear76]

I think it is important to try to look at liberal, conservative, international, and local news to attempt to discern what is actually going on with any situation. There is always a fact or statistic that will back up any story.

I absolutely agree.

 

[maltMonkey]

I guess I fall into the "uninformed" category, if you are lucky, you might catch me watching 5-10 minutes of any news program in a week as I am flipping to another channel.

Sorry, but I am not going to spend hours watching TV, reading the paper, or scrolling through news websites for the tiny bit of real "news" thats in there. So I may learn about some natural disaster halfway across the world a day or two later than every one else, or hear of another soldiers death in a war no one wants to fight, or the latest bickering between the demo-twins, how a light bulb that takes 30 minutes to warm up and contains Hg is going to keep the poles from melting, how the local school got more hula-hoops, blah de blah de blah...... I could probably make up variations of the above topics and cover 99% of what is going to be covered on the "evening news". Besides, will knowing all that superfluous crap and staying "current" going to do ANYTHING for me other than make me feel even more crappy about the state of the world and the idiots that inhabit her, or allow me to look down my nose at the lesser beings that decide to remain ignorant to the world around them?

If it is really important, I will catch it by word of mouth and look it up to find out the details, otherwise, "ignorance is bliss...."

+1

I like to spend my time worrying about what's going on in friend's, family's, and my own life....not the lives of strangers.

 

[RodfatherX]

+1

I like to spend my time worrying about what's going on in friend's, family's, and my own life....not the lives of strangers.

If you don't know whats going on....how do you make informed decisions when you go to vote for members of govt to represent you?

 

[RodfatherX]

There is more in the world that peoples own lil tiny worlds. My 45 y/o cousin for instance .........I hate having to talk to him. The reason being, is all he wants/knows to talk about is whats going on in his lil world. He only wants to talk about his job or his life. I can only listen so many times to him tell me about his job or what not. He hardly knows anything about the world or what is going on in current events. Drives me crazy. I like to call these people "Self Involved Bull****ers".

Sry .......mini rant....within a rant thread.

 

[maltMonkey]

If you don't know whats going on....how do you make informed decisions when you go to vote for members of govt to represent you?

I don't vote.

There is more in the world that peoples own lil tiny worlds. My 45 y/o cousin for instance .........I hate having to talk to him. The reason being, is all he wants/knows to talk about is whats going on in his lil world. He only wants to talk about his job or his life. I can only listen so many times to him tell me about his job or what not.

Regurgitating stories you heard about on the news is not exactly riveting either. It annoys the ever-lovin crap out of me when people start a sentence with "Didja hear about......" Almost equally fascinating is when people use the weather as a conversation starter. Drivel, all of it.

He hardly knows anything about the world or what is going on in current events. Drives me crazy. I like to call these people "Self Involved Bull****ers".

As a general rule: if your life bores people (and you care) then live a more exciting life

 

[Dr_Deathweed]

If you don't know whats going on....how do you make informed decisions when you go to vote for members of govt to represent you?

Now this may be my little "uninformed rant", but here goes anyways:

First, it is my RIGHT to vote, and upon what I have heard/read of all the candidates, I am unimpressed with them all, for that reason I will most likley NOT vote. I am not going to hijack this thread by debating platforms or issues, so I will ignore any retorts along the lines of "but so and so has batter policies on X"... How many presidents , or any office for that matter fulfilled their campaign promises? Besides, does it REALLY matter who you vote for? There is demo clone 1, demo clone 2, the republican party and some independent. Thats one problem with party politics, they represent the PARTY, not the PEOPLE. Frankly, I think an apple would be a better choice for the presidency than any of the candidates, at least it would start to mold and liquefy after a few months in office instead of just standing and smiling at the camera....

Second, if you are really naive enough to think government officials are elected by a body of "informed" voters, I don't think I am the one here the doesn't know whats going on.....

There is more in the world that peoples own lil tiny worlds. My 45 y/o cousin for instance .........I hate having to talk to him. The reason being, is all he wants/knows to talk about is whats going on in his lil world. He only wants to talk about his job or his life. I can only listen so many times to him tell me about his job or what not. He hardly knows anything about the world or what is going on in current events. Drives me crazy. I like to call these people "Self Involved Bull****ers".

Sry .......mini rant....within a rant thread.

Sure, there is more going on than just my little world, and I agree with you 100% about people that obsess over their little perseno-centric universe. My point is more that most of what is called "news" is BS anyways, and if anything important WERE to ever happen, I would hear about it by word of mouth. If I want the FACTS,I would do my own research, not have it spoon fed to me by some ditzy blond on the 5 o'clock news.

 

[DeathBrewer]

If you don't know whats going on....how do you make informed decisions when you go to vote for members of govt to represent you?

how do you make informed decisions by watching the news? there is very little useful information on the news. it's all entertainment and shock value.

 

[RodfatherX]

how do you make informed decisions by watching the news? there is very little useful information on the news. it's all entertainment and shock value.

I do not watch the news. I read CNN and the BBC online every once in a while I pop over to the foxnews website, but I do not like their layout. Very lil useful information? There is all kinds of useful info ........ But I will give you the fact that a lot of it is for shock value and ratings.

 

[DeathBrewer]

ahh, gotcha...i was thinking more tv.

i look up issues i'm interested in and investigate and try to find background information. i also follow things i'm interested in or i think are worthy to know about. but just watching the news on tv or pulling up the news and browsing is so tedious and depressing.

 

[RodfatherX]

ahh, gotcha...i was thinking more tv.

i look up issues i'm interested in and investigate and try to find background information. i also follow things i'm interested in or i think are worthy to know about. but just watching the news on tv or pulling up the news and browsing is so tedious and depressing.

LOL I'll give it to you also, that it is quite depressing.......especially when I see the price of oil/gas is up again :-(