Delayed Gratification – Proud to Be 'Last to Breaking News'

Post by paulryanrogers » Wed, Jul 29, 2026, 12:39 AM UTC

smoe wrote: post #99

watwut wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have seen people who don't follow news confidently say fairly absurd things. They tend to assume things are kind of like they were those 15 years ago and don't want to believe a party of or a country or a situation could have change in the meantime. It is fairly maddening when you know what they say is completely inconsistent with what was happening.

I wonder, do those people you talk about also happen to avoid the other forms of journalism, such as investigative reporting, analysis, essays, documentaries, books, and long-form features in general? Those are the things among many others that actually make you informed about the world, in my opinion, not the news feed.

Post by paulryanrogers » Wed, Jul 29, 2026, 12:43 AM UTC

cruffle_duffle wrote: post #78

parpfish wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

our brightest phds are attacking attention from all fronts (ads, social media, news), but the news one in particular is particularly insidious because for years you were told that watching the news made you a good, responsible person. but back then the news was just one or two 30minute blocks on TV and the newspaper. People that get sucked into social media srolling for hours know that they're not doing something goo…

“ but back then the news was just one or two 30minute blocks on TV and the newspaper.” There was all kinds of quasi-serious news-adjacent crap like 60 minutes, 48 hours, etc. The big difference was none if it was data driven and backed by algorithms that are constantly tuned for max engagement.

Post by NikolaNovak » Wed, Jul 29, 2026, 1:15 AM UTC

coatmatter wrote: post #125

josephg wrote: post #120

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Yep this. I’m a paid subscriber to the economist’s podcast. A lot of their journalism is excellent. I really enjoyed the recent Tocqueville road trip. And their coverage of AI a few months ago was great - it was really interesting to hear what AI adoption in companies looks like for non technical people. Yesterday I watched a fabulous piece by the Australian 4 Corners on food fraud in our country. They did forensic r…

Whenever I encounter someone who jumps at the first opportunity to criticise "mainstream media", I ask them what their preferred outlets are. I tend to not get a response, which to me is quite telling.

Post by SturgeonsLaw » Wed, Jul 29, 2026, 1:29 AM UTC

daniel_iversen wrote: post #134

bch wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know what qualifies as "mainstream media" here, but I feel various public broadcasters have served me well over the years: CBC[0] in Canada, BBC[1] in United Kingdom, NPR[2] in America, ABC[3] in Australia, NHK[4] in Japan... switching around the world also gives reprieve from local politics letting you tune into someone else's local politics practically recreationally, which seems more and more necessary in…

The ABC in Australia feels so opinionated and tilted to the “left” side of politics whenever I’ve watched it on the TV. And it may just have been that news show or the specific host but it makes it not enjoyable to watch when it seems there’s always an “angle” and negative undertones and people constantly having an axe to grind. I’d personally like a bit more neutral news that also leans a little more on the positive…

Post by protocolture » Wed, Jul 29, 2026, 1:39 AM UTC

BeetleB wrote: post #96

openasocket wrote: post #51

One thing that has really frustrated me with "mainstream media" in the last few years is that the level of effort being put into journalism seems to be on decline. I feel like half of the news articles are just a collection of quotes from officials or politicians in public statements, being regurgitated without any additional effort. Outrageous claims are just taken at face value, or at best just put alongside quotes…

How much money are you directly paying per month to news organizations? News organizations have been in decline for a few decades because of two reasons: 1. Lack of ad revenue (all vacuumed up by Google) 2. Loss of subscribers because they can get free news online Don't expect quality from people not being paid much.