Has anyone given up on News altogether?

[AgaBoogaBoo]

I don't bother with most of the news... or politics. Maybe it's just a phase, but it's irritating to hear that the world is coming to an end every time I get involved in either topic.

My issue with politics is that if you take a step back from whatever is happening, the right choice is usually obvious.

 

[KaOTiK]

I get most my news from forums like here. All the interesting and funny stuff usually gets posted. Only other thing I follow is the weather but I have plenty of ways to get that without all the BS of having to watch the news.

The news wouldn't be so bad if one, they didn't repeat the same story every half our from like 5-12pm, which brings me to the next thing, is it really necessary to have news scheduled for literally half of the day. It is always the same crap really, someone gets killed, someone gets robbed, child neglect, or stupid celebarity shit, and whatever flavor of the month national problem there is (war, gas, economy, blah blah blah)

 

[SlickSnake]

Local TV news is 80% fluff pieces about nothing important unless you are the demographic they happen to be targeting in the piece, like sports "news". Utterly pointless news stories about pregnant women and all their traumas or obesity also seem to come up continuously, it seems. Once again, catering to that all powerful demographic. And I only watch local news for the weather or traffic reports.

National network TV news is usually about politics, or some patriotic feel good fluff that usually ignores the fact that the country is being screwed by those very same politics and politicians that they are reporting on. Oh, the ironies.

Some cable news on TV is informative, but it is usually news shows that do specialized investigative news, like Lou Dobbs, that hardly anyone ever watches anyhow.

I guess talk radio generally classifies as news, but it's also specialized depending on the topic that the host is ranting about. So I usually only listen to that while driving around out of boredom.

Newspaper and magazine news is more concerned with selling add space than actually reporting anything, since 75% or more of the printed media is adds, but they do occasionally have informative investigative pieces. But not often or interesting enough for me to subscribe regularly to one, unless I can get it free someplace. Good stuff for reading on the toilet.

Internet news is the main source of news I read. I like news sites like Indy Media or Jeff Rense that I can browse articles or regions on for news.

 

[imported_Devine]

If it's not on CNN.com, posted somewhere in ATOT, or I hear about it from friends I really dont care.

 

[Eeezee]

The only news source I can trust is the Daily Show. That's a very, very sad state of affairs.

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: IGBT

Originally posted by: dbk
I'm a newsjunkie. It makes me feel "important". HAHAH

..i get mine mostly from the radio. tv news sux.

i get mine online. i check the local paper maybe twice a week
i check fark daily, because its more interesting
i check the International Herald Tribune most days and read 3 or 4 stories fully out of 8-12 that look interesting

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Eeezee
The only news source I can trust is the Daily Show. That's a very, very sad state of affairs.

Jon Stewart mentioned this when he was a guest on Tucker Carlson's show, to the effect that journalist type shows are looking to TDS for a model of "journalistic integrity," or something like that. Stewart said that his show comes on after one where puppets make prank calls, and that it's a comedy show. I also don't usually watch the parts where their producers say that they need to pimp some new movie or something of the sort. I really don't give a damn that Will Ferrell has a movie out. Leave the "stars" for Letterman or Leno.

I do wish the show was longer, and did more political satire, and less of the silly bits where they interview/antagonize idiot extremists.

 

[pwnagesarus]

I like news but don't like the way many stations report them. Just give me the damn news and let's not bother with all this extra crap, unless there's gonna be some real discussion going on.

 

[yours truly]

strange how 99% of news is always bad news. the happy stuff only comes right at the end

if a guy kills 10 people, he'll make headline news, but if someone saves 10 people he'd be lucky to get in the local newspaper

 

[Anubis]

i get all my news from this forum

 

[nanette1985]

Originally posted by: Anubis
i get all my news from this forum

Same here.

I can't stand it when the commentators on the news show tell me what I'm supposed to think. Just tell me what's going on and I'll come to my own conclusions.

Another thing I hate about TV and radio news is the commercials.

 

[ultimatebob]

Originally posted by: Jeff7
The Daily Show and Colbert Report are my "news." They like to show either the hypocritical idiocy of politicians, or the idiocy that's being aired on the major news networks.

Local news - I've never watched. Like the OP says, murders, robberies, vandalism, etc etc, all done up to attract ratings. I just saw a commercial for some local news. "The mystery of the black goo washing up on local beaches has been solved. What is it? Find out at 11."
Well, I'll just trust that it's not going to end all life within 50 miles of the beach, and that they wouldn't withhold that kind of information just for ratings. Oh wait, they would.

Yep... that's why I stopped watching local news. It seems that they still haven't figured out that the internet exists yet, and that I can Google that black goo story in about 20 seconds.

 

[Mr Pickles]

All of the news stations have melded into the same thing. When I turn on CNN I'm hoping for news that's going to affect the nation as a whole such as politics, big changes in government or the economy, shit like that. Instead, we get some story that was so popular on the internet 6 hours ago about a baby with two heads that shits rectangular calculators in the little town of Ruskin, Nebraska. As if I fucking care...

The segways from one thing to another really piss me off, too. Granted, the first missing child made national coverage and everyone knows about it. But why the hell would you go on to tell me about 6 other missing kids all over the nation that have only been gone for a half hour (they were hiding under the bed and fell asleep...) as to intentionally promote this concept of mass histeria?

I blame ourselves really. Our attention spans have shortened. We have too many information feeds in the world today. We decided weather or not we want to read or watch something within the first 10 seconds of seeing it so they have to keep pumping our heads with new topics to keep us from changing the channel.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

I used to be a news junky when I was a teenager, but have since abandoned the news entirely (burned out from all the bullshit). Modern "news" is much worse.

The following quote applies to "news" outlets in general.

Mark Twain:

If you don't read the newspaper, you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed.

 

[Regs]

Especially those political debate shows. When they finally come to a commercial, I sit there trying to digest all the shit they said, and realized 5 minutes later they actually made no point at all.

Literally, I think I remember them argue over some politicians hair style for 10 minutes.

 

[krunchykrome]

just read the news and stop confusing yourself

 

[waggy]

i read the news sites but get tired of the diffrent slants each one puts on the same story. Same with news channels. Also they blame stuff on the most idiotic of things.


not to mention the news has been depressing lately. from bailing out failing business, stupid homeowners (all of wich is going to raise my tax's) etc. just fricken annoying.

 

[krunchykrome]

I read the news online in the morning. And watch NFL network after work.

 

[Fraggable]

I quit with TV news when I realized how much the reporters really relished each catastrophe and loved to dramatize every murder, shooting and rape that came across their desk. I know it's news, but do you have to enjoy it so much?

If I must listen to news I usually go fro NPR on the radio, never TV.

 

[Auric]

There is something to be said for the bliss of ignorance just so long as one does not complain when it turns against their favour and the chances of that happening eventually are high. Generally, it behooves us to be aware of world events to avoid nasty surprises. Local TV is simply poor entertainment. Better to skim print headlines occasionally for potentially important community events. Indeed, print uber alles in general. That said, I abhor paper and the innefficiency of it for the task and thus prefer the intarwebses (shocker!).

 

[TallBill]

I have the google news widget on my home page and click on interesting stories. But watching the local news or reading the local paper is painful.

 

[0roo0roo]

its mostly nothing so i don't follow it really anymore. atleast the daily news type shows. hows it doing in iraq? oh its f*ck? who knew?

mostly its not informative, just pointless minutia.

hell even the daily show and colbert have gotten tiresome. i stopped those as well.

 

[nerp]

TV news isn't news.

Read newspapers. TV news stations just cull the local/state papers for their stories anyway. They don't do any enterprise reporting.

 

[Saint Nick]

I do not watch the news or read the newspaper. I don't care what they have to say.

They are all just fear mongering anyways, especially with political stuff regarding terrorism. Otherwise, they glorify every last news story and milk it to the very end. Its pretty pathetic.

 

[Xavier434]

I have not given up on it, but I have recently decided to reduce my attention towards it and pace myself more. What I have come to discover, especially during this election year, is that too much exposure to the news has a tendency to cloud my better judgment. If I reduce my exposure, but still manage to catch up with the events to a reasonable degree then my judgment remains clear which is very necessary considering how news works and how I should be interpreting it.