"The News" - how do you survive it?

[bae]

I upgraded the TV I used in our "movie room" simply to watch streaming movies.

I put the old TV up in the kitchen, so I could use it to throw up recipes from my iPad, and for a few of the apps on the old AppleTV brick I plugged into it - weather and so on.

However, it can also watch "TV", streaming, something I've not done in 20+ years.

So I innocently fired up a couple of the news channels the past few days - CNN, Fox, CNBC, BBC.

How can people survive this?

The shrill voices of the presenters. Who speak so terribly fast, and often quite loudly. Who say such inane, illogicial, unperceptive/uninformed things? The surface-level outrage, shaming, divisiveness.

It's just dreadful.

Going back to using that TV for the "display great works of art" app.

[iris lilies]

I haven’t watched TV news in decades especially national news. I have a vague memory of watching local news probably 15-20 years ago because I recognize the weather guys and of course I catch glimpses of all broadcasters now and then. Back When I was watching national TV news there was no Fox News or no CNN. So that tells you how long ago it was. Oh yeah, we have never had cable so that plays into it.I’m not sure that I ever actually sat down to watch it anyway I might’ve turned it on as I was working around the house.

Anyway – let me tell you that the radio which is on almost constantly in our house is no damn better.

One of the unintended consequences of us buying a house in Hermann is that DH is gone a couple days a week and I have blessed silence. For reasons I won’t go into I don’t even listen to NPR now, and I miss what NPr used to add to my life. I will listen to one of the commercial radio stations for a short time when DH is not here.

[Gardnr]

I watch news MAYBE once/week. I do want to try to keep up but it's tough to swallow all the bad news in our community and our country.

[dado potato]

When the cable news is on, I tend to go to another room and do something interactive: like keeping up with the new posts here!

I can do stealthy random acts of kindness from the PC. For example a donated $50 to sponsor a student for the Annual Dinner of the Larimer County Democrats. (I have never been to Fort Collins, but maybe some-day!) The dinner full price is $90, which could be a deterrent to the typical college student. My sponsored ticket for this anonymous student will have the Bayard Rustin quotation: Tell truth to power.

[Teacher Terry]

If I am home I watch the local news and national news at night.

[Alan]

I'm a heavy consumer of cable "News", although I'm not naïve enough to believe the descriptor. It's not news but opinion, and every "news" outlet has its own preferred ideology to promote.

My current favorite is MSNBC where I begin each day watching and listening to the Morning Joe crew go out of their way to denigrate the current administration, followed by hour after hour of attractive hosts/hostesses doing the same, with each featuring a crew of "Road Warriors" following around their favorite 2020 candidates ( mostly Beto O'Rourke) gushing about how awesome they are.

I believe News stopped being "News" when Walter Cronkite, Chet Huntley and David Brinkley retired or died. It's now entertainment, designed and promoted for particular audiences. The secret to a contented "News" consumer and a distressed consumer is knowing the difference between the two.

[bae]

It's now entertainment, designed and promoted for particular audiences.

What's got me on-edge isn't the exact content or spin, as I surveyed "all the sides". It's the presentation style - the speed, the vocal quality, the audio mixing - it seems calculated to raise BP/heartrates just from the barrage of noise and the speed.

I wonder if there's a market for "the slow quiet news channel" :-)

[herbgeek]

I wonder if there's a market for "the slow quiet news channel" :-)

PBS Newshour is the best of the what I've seen for those qualities.

[bae]

PBS Newshour is the best of the what I've seen for those qualities.

Thanks, I shall investigimate :-)

[jp1]

SO likes to watch the sunday morning talk shows. I just can’t... Listening to a bunch of predictable arguments is not my idea of a good time. thankfully i can go to another room when he gets up.