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Do you avoid the news? You’re in growing company

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Re: Do you avoid the news? You’re in growing company

#91

Post by zingababba »

avalys wrote: post #4

The single biggest problem with America today is the presentation and consumption of national news, political commentary and public policy as entertainment. The media has figured out that America is the ultimate reality TV show and they present it as such. Cable TV and the internet are to blame for this. I don't know what could be done about it. But we'd be way better off if "the news" was something you could watch f…

The problem is speed of information eroding our sense-making coupled with the dominant linguistic framework of economics which reduces communication to zero-sum competition.

To pine for any kind of quaint return is missing the point entirely. The only way through is forward and out.

Re: Do you avoid the news? You’re in growing company

#92

Post by MisterBastahrd »

koube wrote: post #84
tekla wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That opinions pdf on supremecourt.gov is 237 pages long. I need to read multiple news articles and then a novel just to have an opinion on something now? That's cool, I just won't then. It's incredibly hard to have a conversation on a complex legal document if you do not read the legal document.

Lawmakers don't even read the bills the vote on, they have legal experts explain the implications to them. Would you have a better understanding of a system if you skimmed the source code or if you watched a presentation from the author? 237 pages of legalese is way beyond what most people can handle, this is why lawyers exist. If you're saying people shouldn't have an opinion unless they read complex legal documents…

My favorite is when the same lawmaker who voted on a 300 page bill that they needed to pass RIGHT NOW will complain that they didn't have enough time to review a 10 page bill after a change of majority party.

Re: Do you avoid the news? You’re in growing company

#93

Post by djoldman »

It's interesting to me that many threads here seem to imply that lower news consumption by Americans is bad and that the fault lies with the news industry.

Ignoring whether it's bad or not, if Americans want mostly unbiased news, they have easy access to it on the web:

https://www.reuters.com/

https://apnews.com/

Americans choose other sources for news... they're not forced to consume it. The "blame" lies with the people.

Edit: Notice above that I wrote "mostly unbiased" not "totally unbiased." If you want to order all news sources by least bias, AP and Reuters are usually toward the top [0][1].

[0] https://adfontesmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/MBC-Jan...

[1] https://www.allsides.com/media-bias/media-bias-chart

Re: Do you avoid the news? You’re in growing company

#94

Post by ghaff »

Izkata wrote: post #37
barbazoo wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 7 PM - 8 PM Back in my day and in Germany, "news" was from 20:00 to 20:15 with the last 5 or so minutes of that were dedicated to the Bundesliga :)

Where I was the US, 7pm - 9pm was prime entertainment time, and the news would start at 9pm or 10pm depending on the channel (which I think was partially so TV would become boring to kids right around when they should go to bed). Don't remember how long it ran, though my guess would be an hour before the late-night shows would begin.

As I recall in the US, there was typically a post-primetime local news broadcast. The network news was pre-primetime (and it may have been accompanied with a local news slot beforehand).

Re: Do you avoid the news? You’re in growing company

#95

Post by jackpt »

I run a cybersecurity newsletter so i find myself searching through rubbish for ages, from both a mix of mainstream media and people's personal blogs. Most of my issues lie with mainstream media which either not have enough expertise to write the story or signigicantly dumb it down so they can be applicable to a much wider audience.

Re: Do you avoid the news? You’re in growing company

#96

Post by tivert »

flyinghamster wrote: post #86
tivert wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The single biggest problem with America today is the presentation and consumption of national news, political commentary and public policy as entertainment. The media has figured out that America is the ultimate reality TV show and they present it as such. > Cable TV and the internet are to blame for this. I don't know what could be done about it. But we'd be way better off if "the news" was something you could wat…

Social media and its manipulation have amplified the problem vastly, and what makes it even worse is the consolidation of ownership. Nothing like turning on an ABC (owned by Disney) news program and getting ten minutes of self-referential Disney news.

I think the internet and social media's effects have been different than television. Like television, it encourages even shorter attention spans and even more superficial engagement with things. Unlike television, it tends towards anger and outrage (not entertainment) and encourages more fragmentation and tribalism.

Re: Do you avoid the news? You’re in growing company

#98

Post by milkytron »

djoldman wrote: post #93

It's interesting to me that many threads here seem to imply that lower news consumption by Americans is bad and that the fault lies with the news industry. Ignoring whether it's bad or not, if Americans want mostly unbiased news, they have easy access to it on the web: https://www.reuters.com/ https://apnews.com/ Americans choose other sources for news... they're not forced to consume it. The "blame" lies with the pe…

> Ignoring whether it's bad or not, if Americans want mostly unbiased news, they have easy access to it on the web:

I don't think any news is truly unbiased. There is always some form of bias and it's up to the consumer to be able to determine what that bias is and the impact of it and seek altering sources.

It's a skill on its own, but there is always bias.

Re: Do you avoid the news? You’re in growing company

#99

Post by nathancahill »

avalys wrote: post #4

The single biggest problem with America today is the presentation and consumption of national news, political commentary and public policy as entertainment. The media has figured out that America is the ultimate reality TV show and they present it as such. Cable TV and the internet are to blame for this. I don't know what could be done about it. But we'd be way better off if "the news" was something you could watch f…

My grandparents managed to maintain this way of watching news. The TV was off the entire day. They would turn it on at 8pm after dinner for the local/national news report, and turn it off when it finished. It's possible to do but it takes discipline and intention.

Re: Do you avoid the news? You’re in growing company

#100

Post by glonq »

In 2016 (for likely obvious reasons) I broke the habit of watching the evening news, and I'm much happier for it.

And I'm still well-informed. I peek at TV news occasionally, and glimpse at online news too. But I avoid editorials and sources that add a lot of spin. Give me the as-raw-as-possible news so that I can decide if/how I feel about it on my own.

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