How the News Took over Reality • Hacker News Board

Re: How the News Took over Reality

#21

Post by melicerte » Sat, May 04, 2019, 3:33 PM UTC

katzgrau wrote: post #2

> We marinate in the news. We may be familiar with the headlines before we have exchanged a word with another human in the morning; we kill time on the bus or in queues by checking Twitter, only to find ourselves plunged into the dramas of presidential politics or humanitarian emergencies. By one estimate, 70% of us take our news-delivery devices to bed with us at night. Some people do this. And I'm guilty of having…

Do you realize that you are posting your comment on a website having the word « news » in its name ? Just saying :)

Re: How the News Took over Reality

#22

Post by everdev » Sat, May 04, 2019, 3:34 PM UTC

katzgrau wrote: post #2

> We marinate in the news. We may be familiar with the headlines before we have exchanged a word with another human in the morning; we kill time on the bus or in queues by checking Twitter, only to find ourselves plunged into the dramas of presidential politics or humanitarian emergencies. By one estimate, 70% of us take our news-delivery devices to bed with us at night. Some people do this. And I'm guilty of having…

Same. It was a hard pill to swallow because I took a lot of pride in being "informed". But, at the end of the day you're along for the ride. I figured it makes the most sense to stay current about news that is relevant to my career and hobbies and skip the rest.

Re: How the News Took over Reality

#23

Post by [deleted] » Sat, May 04, 2019, 3:53 PM UTC

melicerte wrote: post #21

katzgrau wrote: post #2

> We marinate in the news. We may be familiar with the headlines before we have exchanged a word with another human in the morning; we kill time on the bus or in queues by checking Twitter, only to find ourselves plunged into the dramas of presidential politics or humanitarian emergencies. By one estimate, 70% of us take our news-delivery devices to bed with us at night. Some people do this. And I'm guilty of having…

Do you realize that you are posting your comment on a website having the word « news » in its name ? Just saying :)

[deleted]

Re: How the News Took over Reality

#24

Post by kristianc » Sat, May 04, 2019, 4:19 PM UTC

Judging by the author's article history, there is good money to be made in playing on other people's insecurities.

We should look at articles like this for what it is: the 2010s version of self-help. And as with most self-help, the author is more interested in heightening awareness of the things that are 'holding you back' than providing any meaningful solution.

Re: How the News Took over Reality

#25

Post by reificator » Sat, May 04, 2019, 4:26 PM UTC

melicerte wrote: post #21

katzgrau wrote: post #2

> We marinate in the news. We may be familiar with the headlines before we have exchanged a word with another human in the morning; we kill time on the bus or in queues by checking Twitter, only to find ourselves plunged into the dramas of presidential politics or humanitarian emergencies. By one estimate, 70% of us take our news-delivery devices to bed with us at night. Some people do this. And I'm guilty of having…

Do you realize that you are posting your comment on a website having the word « news » in its name ? Just saying :)

I'm in a similar boat.

The reason I visit hn is because it's typically technical news. Other news stories do make it to the front page occasionally, but they're normally big stories or tangentially related to tech. That's a trade-off I'm willing to make.

Re: How the News Took over Reality

#26

Post by basetop » Sat, May 04, 2019, 4:28 PM UTC

gdubs wrote: post #17

growlist wrote: post #3

Without even reading it I think I can predict the unspoken intent of the article: anything that undermines our suppression of opposing viewpoints must itself be suppressed. Off to check.. Yep that's pretty much the gist of it.

To me it wasn’t about that at all. I read it in the context of the movie “Network” — the evolution of news from a public service towards one of profit generation. The point seems to be that as a culture we take “news” as reality. But ultimately it’s its own construct; having more to do with pulling emotional strings for attention than pushing a particular agenda. [Bias and propaganda certainly exist; but the argument…

If there was a time when news was a public service ( at least in the US or even anywhere in the world ), I'd be interested to find out. My take on news has been that it's always been about influence, power and control. Public service ( like the weather ) are secondary considerations. And profit isn't a real consideration for major news companies.

It why the guardian can exist for 20 years without a profit.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19799893

It's why WashingtonPost is bailed out by Bezos. Do you really think Bezos bought the WashingonPost to make money?

The first newspapers in the US and during colonial times were created by wealthy landowners and business elites to push their views and ideology. Fundamentally, I don't think much has changed, but I'm open to having my mind changed.

Re: How the News Took over Reality

#27

Post by skybrian » Sat, May 04, 2019, 4:29 PM UTC

It might help if filtering were better in more places.

On YouTube, I mostly see accordion videos and that's the way I like it. On Twitter, even if I follow people who don't talk about politics, they will "like" other people's tweets that then show up in my feed.

On Facebook, there should be a way to turn off reshares for someone you're friends with.

Re: How the News Took over Reality

#28

Post by klagermkii » Sat, May 04, 2019, 4:30 PM UTC

gameswithgo wrote: post #6

high_derivative wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I enjoy reading some of the political reporting on Brexit on the guardian, they are amongst the least balanced newspapers on general societal and cultural issues.

what does balanced mean to people who comment on the lack of balance in the news? giving equal weight and time to all viewpoints? that seems to be a crazy thing to expect since soke viewpoints are totally bonkers (example: flat earthers). perhaps a better way to critique would be to specify exactly what viewpoint you feel is being ignored or treated unfairly and justify that claim. otherwise “not balanced” comes acro…

When I say "balanced news", I don't mind if the media has a clear bias on a topic which shines through. It's fine if there is a right side, and they come down firmly on that side.

The issue comes when it feels like they're leaving out information or a perspective which would be harmful to their case. Basically if I read something in the news and after reading it I felt like the story made it look like one side was obviously correct, but then I go and look up more sources or more information and I will feel like there's a lot more nuance to it or my opinion even reverses, then I feel like there's been a huge failure in the media and I call that "not balanced".

It feels like they strawman the opinions they disagree with while pulling in the best representatives and sources for the positions they agree with.

Re: How the News Took over Reality

#29

Post by sorryforthethro » Sat, May 04, 2019, 4:35 PM UTC

novarek wrote: post #19

How do you solve that dilemma between disconnecting from news because it can make you happier and less stressed and disconnecting from news because you're privileged to do so? the parts of the article about the "need" to stay aware of what's happening at the very least certainly ring true for me.

What causes that need? Your job requires it? Or your social group will ostracize if you don't keep up?

Re: How the News Took over Reality

#30

Post by BurningFrog » Sat, May 04, 2019, 4:35 PM UTC

gameswithgo wrote: post #6

high_derivative wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I enjoy reading some of the political reporting on Brexit on the guardian, they are amongst the least balanced newspapers on general societal and cultural issues.

what does balanced mean to people who comment on the lack of balance in the news? giving equal weight and time to all viewpoints? that seems to be a crazy thing to expect since soke viewpoints are totally bonkers (example: flat earthers). perhaps a better way to critique would be to specify exactly what viewpoint you feel is being ignored or treated unfairly and justify that claim. otherwise “not balanced” comes acro…

> what does balanced mean to people who comment on the lack of balance in the news?

If this is an honest question, does that mean you don't actually know?

It's not that hard. Just find out and present the facts even handedly. Make an attempt at see things from the different perspectives.

Well, it shouldn't be hard for a normal grownup, but it sure seems like it is for a lot of people.

Or perhaps the real issue is not how hard it is, but that there is no demand for that type of journalism, so the market doesn't produce it.