ASU2003

Why is it that the major 3 news companies on TV all have just about the same news stories? And why are at least 50% of them about things that do not matter in the overall scheme of things?

I swear if I hear another story about some kid named Kyron (who the hell names their kid that and makes them wear those glasses...) The Balloon boy is another great example... And American Idol...

Where are the news stories about how we are addicted to oil and the consequences of that? Or that the food we eat isn't very healthy and we eat too much of it, which leads to health problems? Or maybe how home flippers were the primary cause of the home crisis? Riding the Boom - May 30, 2005 , Lowering the Boom? Speculators Gone Mild - March 20, 2006 (sure there were some poor people that lost their jobs and defaulted, but it is more likely that one real estate investor who had 10 properties with no ties to any of them would be quicker to get out when the market turned down)
Or maybe how big the national debt is (U.S. National Debt Clock : Real Time), and how doing nothing will only cause problems in the future...

It just seems like the news what to scare the viewers (this could happen to you or your kid ), but not to tell them that they are wrong and the way they are living is going to cause problems.

flat5

Networks only care about making money. That means ratings - selling ad space for the most profit.
They hire the same type of people at the "major" networks who have the same ideas, principles, background, etc.
Research companies probably determine what will be on the news.

Tully Mars

Yeah I used to keep the new on in the house for, if nothing else, back ground noise. But sometime around when Paris Hilton went to jail I decided I'd had enough. I don't care about balloon boy or when a bubble headed bleach blond gets sent to the poky to cry for a couple days.

I now usually have music on and find life more fulfilling.

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snowy

PBS NewsHour | PBS

Soooo much better.

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Xazy

The news channels for the most part suck, every once in a while there is something interesting. The only stories on the local channel I like is when they have a shame shame shame segment and catch some local business or government group violating the law, stealing, and not getting caught. It is maybe once or twice a month for 2 minutes.

Outside of that I realize every channel is biased, most reporters tend to be liberals, and facts are few and far between and all news is reported with a slant in one direction or another.

Plan9

Sure, NPR might be a socialist radio station, but at least they talk about places other than the US. TeeVee? TeeVee is a total sellout.

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BadNick

TV news is almost all show business.

I try to get multiple good or half decent news and then make up my own mind. For me that typically means NPR, BBC, Al Jazeera, Christian Science Monitor with a sprinkling of other stuff that catches my attention.

Tully Mars

Yes, really the BBC and CTV out of Canada seem much more worthy of my attention.

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BadNick

I just remembered a recent event that I'm keeping my eye on. With Christiane Amanpour just signed up on ABC news since last week, will she lift them to her level of achievement or will they drag her down? It's like a news world soap opera ...though so far I have a lot of respect for Ms. Amanpour. A while back I also posted her in the "hottest women in show business" thread.

fresnelly

What bothers me most is how increasingly, twitter highlights and celebrity opinions on events rather than the events themselves are getting the bulk of the coverage.

Rather than exploring the details and background, they just go to the monitor to get a bleat from some celebrity about the news. And frankly it's the same with regular viewers' comments and tweets. There seems to be an insatiable demand for how people "feel" about things so more and more, that's all we get.

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Wes Mantooth

My favorite is watching them try to stumble through a huge news story.

Serious music to let us know breaking news is happening!!!!

Anchor/host thing gives us the bone chilling, serious details, repeats himself about 5 times over the course of the next 5 minutes. While the folks behind the seen scramble for information and other on air personalities are slathered with make up and pushed into the studio.

Commercial break wjile first version of catastrophe 2010 graphic/music plays

Hands off to random guy not good enough to anchor the show who repeats said information only now it has pictures, diagrams or a silly animation to make the point.

Commercial break with newer better looking graphic...same music

Anchor comes back to rehash story, gives another 10 seconds of new information and reiterates the story again for another 5 minutes.

Commercial break...UH OH they dug up new bumper music, graphic is streamlined.

Anchor brings in "expert" (the same guy who was also an expert for the previous days big story) to discuss major story, the "expert" repeats the same thing the anchor has been telling us since the story broke.

Commercial break...graphic and music is perfected we'll be hearing it for the next 3 days.

Anchor talks to reporter on the street, gets the same details he relayed to us at the beginning only now we get witty...er serious banter! YAY!!!

Commercial break...graphic and music is played again somebody changed the color of the stars pulsating in the background, it wasn't quite right.

Anchor rehashes the story again, no new information, graph/diagram is referred to, "expert" may be brought back while next hours host finishes his danish.

In reality they just spent the better part of 45 minutes restating the same 2 minutes of information they had when the story broke. But its a BIG story and people might change the channel if you talk about something else so every other news story is dropped. The next day its all they talk about until they are sure the other stations are moving on too. Big news is big business!

The mainstream media is a joke.

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raging moderate

I KNOW! Fuck the TV news. I agree with whoever said NPR, that and the nytimes and physorg constitute my major news sources

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formerly Murp0434

Lake Rolf

You know if you took Fox News for what it is. (The other side of our poltical coin) and stopped trying to demonize it...so that you can rationalize your irrational fear of hearing what the other side is saying.....you might find that....on occasion....you agree with Fox News.

Tully Mars

I agree with Fox news, but it"s rare. Usually limited to statements like "Today is Monday, August 18th" After that it's pretty much propaganda.

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Vice President Starkizzer Fan Club

ASU2003

I, nor anyone else brought Fox News into this thread until your post. They do this too, don't get me wrong, but they pick and report on news stories in order to direct the way people feel about an issue (or to reinforce it and make them think a lot of other people think the same way). But this thread is about reporting on stupid filler stories that in a week will make no difference in 99.99% of their viewers lives, but will effect their psychology. They cover jobs, home foreclosures, terrorism, shootings, and other things that make people fearful of everyone else, and not able to go outside and enjoy their lives without thinking that someone is going to kill them while walking the street But they miss the big news stories that the average American doesn't care about (Third world poverty, human trafficking, outsourcing factories to get around regulations, monopolistic practices, national debt and how to fix it, commodity price manipulations, oil and coal business practices, lobbying, and a bunch of other things that might be actually effecting your life, but you don't know about it.)

Let's take today, some Mom killed 2 kids and attempted to make it look like an accident. I could care less if I ever heard about that. That isn't news. But, what will I think the next time something like this happens? Will the media cause us to jump to conclusions in order to gain more viewers and uncover 'the truth'? Or should the police do their job and investigate things in a legal, fair manner where people are innocent until proven guilty?