A "News" Junkie No More

[Stevendsmith]

I fully recognize that cable and network "news" is gamed for the administration and its coporatist agenda. But until recently I watched this crap almost every evening--mainly for the purposes of media criticism, but also to pick up some actual news or useful discussion.

But the "news" has become such a handjob, such a whitewash of the crimes of BushCo and its allies that I hardly watch at all anymore. If the program isn't leading with some very bad news for BushCo (i.e., Plame or Abu Ghraib is breaking open), I just shut it off.

The good news is that I now make better use of the time I would have spent watching this crap.

The bad news is that we no longer have news on TV!!!!

What a sad joke.

[SoFlaJet]

1. yea well Steve

we have smartened up and get our news from places we think will not be so skewed-Don't think this place won't be gone too,if they had their way.

[Hoping4Change]

2. I'm with you. Once a loyal news junkie now US news makes

makes me sick. Living in Canada I can still get a fix frm Canadian news sources.

[democraticinsurgent]

3. i am the same way now

...i used to just vacuum up cnn and msnbc, especially since the late 90's with huge spikes around the 2000 election and 9-11.

it is very sad. thank god we are finally getting it and have the internet as a refuge.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

4. "network" news, CBS, NBC, and ABC, are not bias!

CBS has been kicking * in the balls lately!

But, yes, CNNMSGOPFAUX are so Goebellsesque that one must wonder what is next for us.

:scary:

[democraticinsurgent]

7. ABC and NBC are not to be trusted

remember than GE owns NBC and Disney owns ABC. GE also controls MSNBC and CNBC through its ownership of NBC. Nothing to be trusted there. And Disney is as righwing as they come. They cut ties with Fahrenheit 911 despite its obvious profit potential.

CBS, owned by Viacom, seems to be more independent. Viacom also owns the Comedy Channel which is the most truthful of any cable channel out there.

[hlthe2b]

5. I have such limited cable service, I don't get any cable news channels

Nonetheless, it is hard not to watch network news or PBS-Jim Lehrer most nights... I'm a visual person and sometimes it isn't quite as satisfying to listen to NPR (yeah, I know, I know it is going downhill too) and scour internet.

I'm trying to kick the tv habit, though... It is really a time drain and almost narcotic in its effect on attention span...Some days I wish I'd been raised in a tv-less household.

Congrats on your progress, Stevendsmith...

[PROGRESSIVE1]

6. I Consider the Big Three and Leher to be respectable.

Much more so than CNNMSGOPFAUX or the Whoringoton Post.

[Shopaholic]

10. Watch Keith Olbermann on MSNBC--Countdown

Keith produces a great show and more importantly, it's very fair. He also has the balls to report stories no one else reports. It's the only news show that I regularly watch anymore.

[Brian Morans]

8. I can't watch it anymore

so got rid of cable. Outrage fatigue.

[cprise]

12. Good for you

There isn't enough talk on DU about good news sources. We post articles from them, but we tend to display a lack of curiousity about what makes them so good. Complaining about the bad guys is much more popular.

I'd rather use the time and energy for something constructive.

[KharmaTrain]

9. Don't Wear Blinders

Know what the networks are showing and saying...it makes you more informed...especially when you have to confront wingnuts. It will give you a good clue as to where they're coming from and how to counter the spin that's out there.

I've done countless posts about the political games going on with the major media corporations and how much they have riding on this election. Some, like Clear Channel and Faux are blatant in their support for this regime to the point Pravda during the Soviet era...while Viacom/CBS/Infinity definitely shows a lean in our direction and is slowly allowing its various media arms to take aim at this regime. Disney, remember, has championed gay rights and its news presence is limited compared to the other networks that have fulltime cable outlets (Disney's biggest Cable holding is ESPN).

I always suggest people to be curious and not a snob. The "I don't watch TV" line is an elitist one, IMHO, as it's like ignoring something you don't like. If that's the case, the networks say "screw you"...and go for the audience that does watch...and if that's wingnuts, it's wingnuts.

Lately I've been surfing through the Faux spin (I go through cycles where I just can't stomache it), and it's quite entertaining when you critique what messages and buzzwords are coming out and whose saying them. Their little TV treehouse offers us a valuable insight into how poisoned they've become and a window to show others, who are now questioning what they're seeing or hearing, to see how one-sided it is.

Thank goodness for the internet...and DU. I find scanning the LBN every couple hours (or more if something's breaking)...or making a bee-line to it when I see a newsflash on CNN...that you can get linked to a lot of different sources and perspectives. Hell, it only takes a few minutes before someone here's got the Freeper's spin on things, and from there you can really go into the abyss :evilgrin:.

Yes, TV News is very biased right now, but in the mindset of the powers-that-be, a "reflection" of popular thought...or at least the popular thought of research that's now several months old in the tooth. New data is starting to stream out...and certainly the popularity of F911 and The Daily Show are raising some corporate eyebrows. It's still too early to expect a big turn-around, but if it's sensed that the ABB audience is the money one, you'll see a lot more programs spotlighting on this regime's failures rather than playing appologist.

We had the same occurance during the Vietnam days. The Huntley-Brinkley report was almost a nightly commercial for the U.S. Army...until Tet and the constant reports from the field that showed us things weren't what we were being told. By the end of the war, the media was hyper critical of any government claim which opened the ground for the Watergate era that followed. But enough for now...

Cheers!

[cprise]

11. Umm...

No. Getting your entertainment from sources like FNC is elitist. It probably shows that you're not really threatened by their message, and you're not likely to be suffering the most when neocons get what they want. WASP male liberals flock to FNC the way they flocked to Limbaugh all these years: On one level they love to be scandalized by a good trainwreck, but on another level many of them identify with these broadcasters who are fulfilling some sort of emotional need in the liberal viewer.

Mass news media are now absorbed into mega-conglomerates with all sorts of other businesses and conflicts of public interest. The hyper-criticism you cite was eventually channeled into deep cynicism toward everything in the public sector except the military. Very bad!

TV news is not a reflection of popular thought. It is a daily attempt to lead us around by the nose. But accurate news is coming to us via other methods (internet, theaters) because many of us are turning off the TV and use our time on the alternatives instead.

Most of us don't have TIME to fill our heads with junk info and their conditioning AND stay properly informed. I need to rely on those exceptional individuals elite enough to manage both so that I know generally what the networks are up to.