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The News Is Information Junk Food (2022)

chuck.is

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Re: The News Is Information Junk Food (2022)

#31

Post by TySchultz »

I think there should be a middle ground where you dont have to completely remove yourself from the news, just the endless feeds and opinions. It does seem helpful to know what is going on with the world. Whether thats socially or just understanding other events. I fully agree there is a limit and most of what is out there is junk but not all of it.

I have been actively trying to build something to get away from the endless feeds of news.

Essentially a modern day newspaper. So you can read what is important and then be done for the day.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/quill-news-digest/id1669557131

Re: The News Is Information Junk Food (2022)

#32

Post by mandmandam »

steveBK123 wrote: post #19

The blending of comedy/entertainment with news, going back to the GWB era with the Daily Show is a good example of this problem. People consuming junk food thinking they are getting their vegetables. Better to simply turn off your brain and honestly watch real junk without the false sophistication.

Multiple studies over those years showed that The Daily Show watchers were significantly better informed on issues than cable news viewers.

Cable news is the junk food, and TDS showed it to be so bad that even a parody news show could do a better job of informing people, a point made very often by the host. Using it as an example of junk news is missing the point by a rather wide margin.

> Better to simply turn off your brain and honestly watch real junk without the false sophistication.

It's all coming from the same six companies, as per the article. It all has a lot of the same messaging - trust the police, the good guys always win, torture is bad but if you have a good reason it's ok, Islam is super scary yo, capitalism is cool actually, being too smart isn't cool, and leave the status quo the fuck alone or get Avengered.

... Turn your brain off at your peril. Junk food can kill. If you really feel the need to watch absolute garbage and ignore the news, you probably need to work less and/or sleep more.

Re: The News Is Information Junk Food (2022)

#33

Post by flir »

steveBK123 wrote: post #19

The blending of comedy/entertainment with news, going back to the GWB era with the Daily Show is a good example of this problem. People consuming junk food thinking they are getting their vegetables. Better to simply turn off your brain and honestly watch real junk without the false sophistication.

I think you do political satire - because that's what the Daily Show is - a disservice. Spitting Image (for example) massively shaped people's perceptions of British politicians in the 80s. That Maggie puppet is still an iconic image of the woman herself.

Re: The News Is Information Junk Food (2022)

#34

Post by vouaobrasil »

I stopped reading the news because of this. When 90% of the articles on the BBC are irrelevant to me and have titles like "Taylor Swift Vienna concerts cancelled after attack threat", "The 'absurd' real-life sting operation that inspired a movie", or "Behave yourselves, China tells its Olympic fans", I lose all interest.

The news has become like intellectual sugar, written more for page views than for merely informing, and I find that exceptionally irritating. Writing so-called "catchy headlines" and an overwhelming bias towards bad news has made me sick with all news organizations.

Of course, I am sure some people like it. Probably most. I am in the minority for most things, but I simply hate it.

Re: The News Is Information Junk Food (2022)

#35

Post by forinti »

A decade ago I switched from my local morning news to a French show. Instead of violence, traffic accidents, and soccer, the French show talked about recipes, books, travelling, etc. It didn't really try to be a news show, just something light to start off the day.

Nowadays I prefer silence during breakfast.

Re: The News Is Information Junk Food (2022)

#37

Post by lodovic »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #5
ricardobayes wrote: post #3

I like the system in UK and Germany where taxpayers need to contribute a fee (but not a tax, to avoid government interference) to fund broadcasters and news. I think not consuming news is not a reasonable approach in our day and age, you have be informed in order to make good decisions.

In the Netherlands as well, and the main news source (on public broadcasters) is a cooperation between all the broadcasters, which in theory means it's an independent and neutral organization that provides the news. In theory. There's news on commercial channels as well but it's more aimed at entertainment, often has some lighter subjects and informal newsreaders, and of course ad breaks.

Another issue is that they have a lot of nonsense on the public TV and radio, such as game shows or light comedy. These broadcasts could very well be done by commercial stations, but as these would need to compete against a state-funded entity, it creates an unfair playing field. The public channels have the advantage of guaranteed funding, which allows them to produce content without the same financial pressures faced by commercial broadcasters.

Re: The News Is Information Junk Food (2022)

#38

Post by criddell »

steveBK123 wrote: post #19

The blending of comedy/entertainment with news, going back to the GWB era with the Daily Show is a good example of this problem. People consuming junk food thinking they are getting their vegetables. Better to simply turn off your brain and honestly watch real junk without the false sophistication.

What do you think about political cartoons in newspapers and elsewhere?

https://firstamendmentmuseum.org/exhibits/virtual-exhibits/a...

Re: The News Is Information Junk Food (2022)

#39

Post by afpx »

steveBK123 wrote: post #19

The blending of comedy/entertainment with news, going back to the GWB era with the Daily Show is a good example of this problem. People consuming junk food thinking they are getting their vegetables. Better to simply turn off your brain and honestly watch real junk without the false sophistication.

What's your opinion of John Oliver? I just watched a YouTube video of his show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqK3_n6pdDY. It seemed pretty good, but I'm also very ignorant.

What's the best way to become informed about a topic? Or, is it better to stay ignorant?

Re: The News Is Information Junk Food (2022)

#40

Post by jtwoodhouse »

I started my career as a reporter a decade ago. I can't tell you how many stories I filed that an editor twisted into something different to fit their narrative.

There were also stories I was directed away from because they would alienate our audience.

It's a narrative business.

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