A serious question concerning cable "news"

[DancingBear]

Just over a month ago I made the decision to stop watching cable "news" and associated programming (CNN, Tweety, Sunday morning talk, etc.). It should be painfully obvious of the bias involved with same, and as equally obvious that the Internet and it's components provide the only real news for those of us who care enough to find it.

Here's the dilemma - by not watching, I feel at times that I am unable to lend my voice when it comes to refuting all the bullshit they shovel down our collective throats. However, by watching I just lend credence to an incredibly corrupt system that, if left unchecked, will continue to lead us (literally) to fascism.

I'm open to suggestion as to what road to take - I see Brock, Franken, etc. trying to make inroads (and succeeding at times), but I also see Kagan and Limbaugh and realize how entrenched are the tentacles of the right. I've written more emails than I'd care to count and left more comments than I'd care to remember - what the hell is next??

[knowbody0]

1. matter of choice

i prefer to be meerkat
keeps me tuned up and lively
when depression sets in i turn up good music,
i have a 5" screen though to keep stuff in perspective and don't let it corrupt my kids

[LSdemocrat]

2. Don't watch. Find a couple news websites and/or good newspapers

It's really all you need. I just ignore the networks.

If you want to hold the media accountable, plenty of ways are often mentioned on DU and DailyKos, you really don't need to watch. Also, on the rare occasion that there is something worth watching, you'll probably find out about it here anyway.

In terms of sources I use and trust to a certain extent:
New York Times
BBC News
The Guardian (UK Newspaper)
CNN.com and ABCnews.com's the Note (those just to see what is "making headlines")

C-SPAN's live event coverage also rocks!

[ClintonTyree]

3. If you can't................

get all of the news you need here at DU or other Progressive sites on the "internets", well............
I seldom watch that crap as well, for mental and physical health reasons. I get all my news from the newspaper or the "internets".

[Shopaholic]

5. Sign up for Media Matters e-mail alerts.

You can get them either individually, or get a daily summary. They kick ass.

[KoKo]

4. If I give it all up then I feel like a "fringe folk." I think Air America

is good, but it's too comedy oriented for me. Randi Rhodes is too harsh. I've taken to listening to Ed Schultz online or on the radio depending on where I am.

I don't watch any night stuff on any channel and check DU "Latest Breaking" before I turn on the cables and that seems to work well. I will peek at CNN and MSNBC on the "hour" to see sometimes what's up. If DU'ers say Olberman is good, I'll turn it on. Or if Dobbs is good, I'll check it out.

That's about it. I've compromised. But, find most of it isn't worth watching because of the Bush pump. When the polls go up for Kerry they give us a break, when it's close or Kerry goes down..it's all Bush all the time. They play it that close. :-(

[salvorhardin]

9. You should try Thom Hartmann

Not comedy oriented, very factual and the man is brilliant. You can check out archived broadcasts at http://www.whiterosesociety.org .

[sherilocks]

6. I still watch cable news

That is my only concession. I try my best to buy Made in America. I have stopped shopping in Wal-mart and Home Depot.

As I went through the list of advertisers on Sinclair, contacting all whose services I actually used, which seemed to be most of them, I realized that I was going to have to prepare all my own food from scratch, never eat out, only drink water, bring my Ford vehicle somewhere else for servicing, purchase my electronic stuff on the web and stop drinking Red Bull (my daily tonic). My first thought was, can I do this? You bet.

But, I will not give up on cable news. To me, it's a necessary evil.

[Shopaholic]

7. I've stopped watching Tweety

I just couldn't take him anymore. I still love Keith Olbermann though.

[salvorhardin]

8. This may seem off topic but

when I first started my little hosting business (1997) and running my own server I knew most of my customers personally and was very protective of them. Most of them were far from internet savvy and quite a few were seniors who had not grown up with BBS's and Usenet. As a result they were vulnerable to every hoax and scam that came down the pike.

It seemed like not a day went by when one of them didn't e-mail me with the hoax or scam du jour -- often times something that had been making the rounds for years. At first I would meticulously research and document these hoaxes and scams, providing rebuttals full of links to source material and tutorials on netiquette and how to recognize urban myths, hoaxes and scams. I'd do this most gingerly for fear of offending these people (after all most of them had been professionals twice as long as I'd been alive) and every couple of weeks send out a newsletter with a compedium of what I'd seen that week with the links included.

It got to be too much. I couldn't keep up with the speed at which these things flew around the net, often mutating in the process. What's more, it was as if they weren't even listening. As often as I countered the latest offer from Bill Gates for $1 Million for testing his new e-mail tracking system or the free M&M's, there it would be the very next day in my inbox. Heck, I couldn't even keep them from forwarding me the joke messages that had been forwarded to them by their friends and forwarded by their friends and ad infinitum.

So I gave up. I didn't respond to their messages about the LSD on the phones or the ones saying their computers would burst into flames if a particular virus infected their systems or the pleas they had received from the little dying girls. If someone asked me pointedly about something or whether I'd read their e-mail, I'd just respond with "Did you google it or look on snopes?"

Some were offended, but most would just respond with their heads down and a sheepish "No..." to which I would simply say "You might wanna do that."

I used to be the same way with cable news. As before, I'd carefully research and document everything and then rebut the parotted Rovian arguements as best I could. I even pointed people to where they could learn more about rhetoric and logical fallacies and Republican dirty tricks. However, I found out here that it wasn't simply a question of my time getting eaten away but my sanity was suffering.

So I gave up here too. Now when someone comes up to me with some asinine meme he's heard Limbaugh or O'Reilly I simply say, "Did you google it?" As before, some are offended that I'd dare challenge Limpballs or O'Lie'ly's veracity but most just respond with a sheepish, "No."

Every now and then I'll be eating in the little diner on the first floor of my building (I live in what can only be described as an upstate NY hick town but I'm allowed to say that 'cause I grew up here) and someone will come out with one of these lies and if it's particularly aggregious ("No one could have predicted 9/11" or "Bush kept us safe from the deadly British flu vaccine" are two that qualify) I'll speak up and quietly say, "That's not quite true. Here's why..." but seriously, for my own mental health, that's the best I can do.