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Watching the news is a rite of passage for any newly crowned adult. It’s a sign to you and everyone you know that you’re a grown up and you keep up with what’s going on in the world.
Because of the news, you can name like 50 percent of the presidential race issues, you’re aware of every tragedy going on at home and abroad, and each day at work you get to ask someone if they heard about either the *insert feel good story here* or *insert catastrophe involving a zoo animal here* that you saw the previous night. The news is making you such a well-rounded and mature human being.
But if that’s all you’re doing to stay informed, you’re wasting your time. I don’t care if you’re watching Fox, NBC, CNN, whatever, it’s not doing the job. In the past watching the news or reading the morning paper was the only option to hear what was happening in the world, but that is no longer the case. The news may be a staple of your parents and grandparents’ nightly routine, but like The Cold War and Polio, this is something from the past that needs to be eradicated.
In this day and age, the news is just another TV show, competing for ratings just like whatever shitstorm lineup ABC is rolling out this fall. Not only are they competing against the other news stations, they’re competing with whatever else is on at the time.
Hey 5:30 news, just a heads up, you’re facing off with Family Feud, and I’m taking Steve Harvey in that matchup every day. The talk shows that come on later are even more screwed because they’re going up against prime-time TV or someone’s Netflix binging.
The networks running these news programs are fashioning them like any other prime-time TV show trying to grab some viewership, just instead of having to create an intricate plot about terrorist acts or political drama, reality spares them the requirement to be creative, and usually doesn’t come with the happy endings.
They’re essentially giving you the Michael Bay version of what happened in the world today. You’ll see a bit of what’s going on in the world, but only the part that gets some eyeballs on the screen. That’s great if you’re looking for the exciting SparkNotes of world events, but if you’re trying to truly inform yourself there are far better outlets to do so.
The days of Cronkite keeping the American people in the loop are long gone. There are some exceptions, but mostly we’ve got news networks that are just keeping us filled with what we want to see, instead of hard-hitting reports of what we need to see. The talk shows do a bit of a better job, but in the end, they know job number one is to get viewers.
I don’t fault them for looking for the sexy event or political soundbite. It’s the networks’ job to see who can fire off the hottest take with a catchy format while simultaneously tailoring it to its demographics’ preferences. You’re watching something that is trying to cater to you, not give it to you strait, so don’t cheat yourself by exclusively relying on that alone.
Similar to how a sitcom has the same set plan of rising and falling action with a climax and resolution, your trusty network news trots out the same blueprint every damn night. Headline, tragedy, political praise/criticism, some impending crisis you should be concerned about, and a wonderfully uplifting story to close out the show.
All flash, no substance. It’s like a real-life blockbuster action movie that got released in January because it was actually dogshit.
The issue at hand is that the former gold-standard news networks have become the worst place to grab the news. And who’s to blame them for trying to spice it up or sticking certain issues just to grab viewers? They know as well as we do that we don’t need them to be our source for the world goings-on like back in the day. All the updates and content we need are on our phones; they’ve been reduced to scrambling to grab viewers just like any other channel.
Especially with election season coming up, it’s important to not rely on solely what you hear via MSNBC or FoxNews. If you’re in the mood for a quick refresher on some news topics, or just need some quality background noise of a few political commentators you favor analyzing the antics of the candidate you don’t, fire up a news channel. I’m still going to have my preferred network on, especially when the Twins are getting blown out early.
But, if you’re looking to educate yourself and not just be a news network parrot, dig a bit deeper with some investigative reading, fact-checking, and come to some real opinions of your own. You owe it to your own intellect to take the time to find hard-hitting pieces that are meant to educate; not clickbait, or the TV equivalent to it that gets splashed on your screen every night.
Find a balance of your TV news, online print, and John Oliver any other outlet you trust to hit you with some facts about what matters.
Getting your news exclusively via the network at prime-time is a bad habit, and like you should’ve done with every bad habit you picked up in college, just say no to relying on the news networks..
Image via Shutterstock
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Kyle Bandujo
The artist formerly known as Crash Davis. My kid doesn't think I'm funny.
@kylebandujo
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Considering most of the people I know are morons that get their news from Facebook memes, I’m not sure if more people watching cable network news would be a bad thing. At least television shows can be held responsible for their reporting
Wait a minute…Facebook memes aren’t legit?
I think history will show that 24 hr news networks are pretty horrible for a society. There simply isn’t enough news in the day so a rhetoric is pushed upon people that creates a false since of importance. Prime example- discussing presidential candidates 2 years before an election. Calling it right now, the day after the election some station will do a segment on who will beat either Hilary or Trump in the next election.
Its already happening. I read an article this morning talking about the possible nominees of both parties for the next Presidential race in 2020. Kanye not included
I’ve been trying to spread this word for a few years now. MSNBC and Fox pride themselves on providing you with the most incoherent or unrelatable viewpoint on the opposing sides of the issues they run with. Fox will bring on some Black Live Matters protester that will believes we should abolish police and use it as a proxy for anyone that supports that agenda. MSNBC will show an entirely different subset of the movement that may appear productive. When in reality, a more correct perception will be mixed but somewhere between.
It’s not conspiracy to understand that cable news is a business, and a lot of recurring viewers experience the dopamine release that comes from hearing their how stupid, bad, or ignorant another viewpoint is. This good vs. bad fallacy of issues affecting stop us from having more nuanced and meaningful conversations.
Yes
With Roger Ailes leaving Fox News I will be more focused on the news itself rather than who is delivering it.
Well written article…at the end of the day, just like any other corporation, their loyalty is to their shareholders instead of their customers. They’re going to do whatever they can in order to get the most eyeballs tuned into their channel. Their primary responsibility isn’t to educate their audience.
I care far more about sports than I do about current events so I don’t have the nuance to talk about cable news but I do for ESPN, FS1 etc. (which, in reality, are similar models). In the sports world, there so much content out there that only three types of voices really get out: 1) the really intelligent, well put together thought pieces (e.g. Zach Lowe, Bill Barnwell) 2) The ones who realize it’s just sports, don’t take themselves too seriously and put out light, enjoyable content (e.g. Sports Nation) and 3) The loudest, most provocative people out there (e.g. First Take). Then their are shows like PTI (which I still consider the best sports commentary show out there) that take elements from all three categories.
My assumption is that content from cable news probably follows the same model. The problem is getting “smart news” out there is incredibly difficulty because: 1) You need to find intelligent people that can also speak to a broad-based audience and 2) You need people to sit down long enough and pay attention hard enough in order to comprehend what’s going on. To do that and turn a bigger profit than your competitors is REALLY FUCKING DIFFICULT. Therefore the Fox Newses, CNNs and MSNBCs of the world sell out and go with option 2 and option 3 instead. That’s why you see fucktards like Ann Coutler getting millions on book deals for calling all liberals pussies. She’s able to capture a bigger segment of the political audience than whoever the cable news equivalent of Zach Lowe because she’s easy to understand and provocative enough for her voice to be heard over the literally thousands of other places you can get your news.
I would assume the best place to get your news is PBS because they don’t rely on a capitalistic model but I don’t know for sure because I haven’t watched PBS since I stopped watching Sesame Street at a kid.
Cable news just reports things that happened an hour ago on Twitter anyway. Pick a few good journalists/outlets to follow and you can get a pretty good mix. @whpresscorps is a good start!
I mean, if you control society and own all of the conglomerates that distribute information on a global scale to the masses, is it that unbelievable that they want to keep everyone stupid and in the dark on the things that actually matter while they rake in money and power? The real people in power want you to be smart enough to push the papers and operate the machines but just dumb enough to accept that this is what life is so that you hold out for a retirement where you’re old enough to basically go see Europe for 2 weeks and just get cancer while they withold the cure for that too because they’d make less money by curing disease as opposed to treating them.
By the way, I am available for uplifting life coach sessions.
Unfortunately it is very hard to find unbiased news these days. I believe all media outlets are owned by 8-9 different companies so even though you’re reading a different medium, you’re getting the same bullshit. As a republican, I naturally will gravitate more towards Fox not just because I side with them, but because I believe they are more honest than other outlets. Sure they spin things, but that’s up to me to sort out. These online news sources like Vice, Jezebell, shit like that are ruining news altogether. Call me a commie but reading the BBC is a pretty neutral source to go to for American news. It gives you the perspective of those not living in the US, AKA the other 95% of the world. Hint: Most of them laugh at us.
Agree with you on BBC, but Fox is definitely part of the problem
Gotta get your news from both sides. If you’re seeing the story from more than one viewpoint, you can better determine what the real story is and who is reporting the story with the least amount of bias.
Cable news is one of the many reasons opinions on most matters are largely I’ll thought out and overly simple. The old saying goes, if you have to yell, you lost. But in the news sense, who ever yells the loudest wins. They get their point across to their already selectively bias viewers. Fox News knows that whatever point they make will be taken as if it was from a prophet himself. That’s why they send reporters out to talk to black lives matters rallys and find the biggest idiot they can, and it’s the same reason msnbc send their people out to gun rallys and find uncle jimbo to talk to. The only thing cable news has created is further confirmation bias for viewers. So that when you see that stupid Facebook meme about Hillary and how she did something, you feel anger but something trump said is logical and makes sense. They are instilling their own political agenda In you instead of the facts. They have sold you a product and you bought it.
Exactly why I watch Atlantis Cable News instead of Fox or MSNBC