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Thread: News fast.

  1. #11
    Senior Member Tradd's Avatar
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    I pay a lot of attention to the news. Never bothers me. Maybe it's because I actually was a reporter in the early 90s. Even in small-town Michigan, the more murder, rape, and mayhem made the job fun.

  2. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by flowerseverywhere View Post
    I only watch the evening news, and bbc. And not every daycable news like CNN and FOX are opinion shows, with people shouting over each other and rudely interrupting bear little resemblance to real news. In a brief time you can separate them into two camps.......
    That is exactly what I was thinking this morning at 2:00 while watching BBC International. Programs that purport to be ‘news’ are actually opinion shows. I did notice that some guests on BBC and sometimes the tone of voice used by the newscaster exhibits some bias but for the most part it’s ‘just the facts ma’am’. Our local news stations also reports just what happened and do not insert their opinions. For a time I listened to NPR and watched PBS news but soon realized they have ‘leanings’ too.


    I don’t need a news fast I just need to be more discerning of what information I allow into my head.

  3. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Zoe Girl View Post
    Everything has a bias to begin with, so if I watch Fox news I will get a different story than NPR. I look at the source, it is click-bait from FB or a reliable source. I read news on our local news station website for example. That is hard to tell these days! So I read things from people I disagree with as well as ones that support my general views.

    I know that the way news is presented can cause a lot of distress, so TV news is waaaay too much for me. However reading the same content in an article can be fine. TV and video is somehow very different, I can also read horror stories but not see them as movies.

    In an urgent local matter I have a parent who works for our 7 news channel, she will tell me at pick up!
    I agree souces are biased, whether it’s the WaPo or a bartender That has been true since the evolution of language. I don’t see that any format is more distressing than any other.

  4. #14
    Williamsmith
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    I’m pretty sure Richard Proenneke never missed not reading the New York Times or worried about not catching the evening news. And he did pretty good for himself. I wholeheartedly endorse your news fast. Would you like me to contact you if we declare War on North Korea?

  5. #15
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Williamsmith View Post
    I’m pretty sure Richard Proenneke never missed not reading the New York Times or worried about not catching the evening news. And he did pretty good for himself. I wholeheartedly endorse your news fast. Would you like me to contact you if we declare War on North Korea?
    I agree. The news is not obligatory. We'd probably be better off without it in many ways.
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
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  6. #16
    Senior Member jp1's Avatar
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    The happiest adult I've ever known was completely uninterested in the news/politics/etc. The only things she worried about were her daughter/family/friends. I was not especially interested in world events until 9/11 happened. I was unemployed at the time so I had a fair amount of time to be able to read lots of history and opinions about why it had happened. Red pill completely swallowed I can't really imagine going back to pre-911 jp.

  7. #17
    Senior Member SteveinMN's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by goldensmom View Post
    Programs that purport to be ‘news’ are actually opinion shows.
    Fox Noise is really good at this: presenting themselves as a "fair and balanced" "news source" and then ducking behind the cover of "We're entertainment!" when their lack of journalistic integrity is pointed out. But they are not alone in this.

    Quote Originally Posted by goldensmom View Post
    Our local news stations also reports just what happened and do not insert their opinions. For a time I listened to NPR and watched PBS news but soon realized they have ‘leanings’ too.
    Opinions are being inserted all the time, whether or not what's being presented is labeled as "opinion". The selection of what is covered, how much space/time a report is given, its position in the paper/broadcast/site, even word choices in the report all present opinions. Leading a news report with a headline like "Muslims threaten job walkout if demands are not met" is different than burying "Muslim employees at local factory ask for time to pray during work" until just before the weather forecast. And neither report may be completely accurate.

    Quote Originally Posted by goldensmom View Post
    I don’t need a news fast I just need to be more discerning of what information I allow into my head.
    This. Unfortunately we no longer seem to teach people how to be discerning thinkers, to question sources and motives or even give some stories a quick smell test (Hilary Clinton abusing children at a Washington pizzeria? Which part of that was believable?).
    Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington

  8. #18
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    I have tried a few times and ""almost"" succeeded at News Fast. I am so much better. UL it does do good! If something really big "Boom"happens you will know. Other than that I feel that way too today I can't fix it, plus no one is really asking me too!

  9. #19
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    I've come to the conclusion that the real problem, and what really needs to be avoided for the sake of one's mental health, isn't the news per se but the commentariat. Chiefly TV cable news (Fox on the right, MSNBC on the left, CNN in the middle) and web sites devoted mostly to opinion pieces (Salon, Slate and the Huffington Post on the left, Breitbart and the Daily Caller on the right). Even though I'll admit I sometimes succumb to them (on the left mostly), I don't see that they contribute much to the quality of public discourse in this country. The 24-hour cable news cycle is downright destructive--they need to be in a lather about something all day, every day, which causes them to latch on to whatever will raise their viewers' hackles and drive ratings, which isn't the same as what the public needs to know (yes, that's elitist).

    More and more, I'm trying to confine myself to reasonably reliable, mainly print, news sources (NYT, WaPo, Wall St. Journal [not the editorial page], the Economist, the Week). Watching cable news does not make you well-informed. It has the opposite effect.

  10. #20
    Senior Member rosarugosa's Avatar
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    I pay very little attention to the news. I scan online headline stuff for about 10 minutes per day. I'm relying on William Smith to let me know if we go to war.

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