What kind of news cycle are you in?
 

So my parents came down to visit this weekend. They're retired, and they have cable television. To say they indulge themselves in the 24-hour news cycle is probably not going far enough. They were asking us again and again about supposed news stories we just hadn't heard about. At one point, I stopped to explain that no, we don't live under a rock, we just prefer to get our news from NPR or the BBC or the New York Times. We don't watch the local news, nor do we have cable. The only thing remotely approaching cable news that we do manage to watch on occasion is The Daily Show, because it's on their website. Neither of us work in a situation where we're sitting on a computer all day, so we're not constantly looking at headlines, either. When I do watch news, I watch the BBC World News or Newshour on public television.

How about yourself? Do you indulge in the 24/7 news cycle present today? Do you watch headlines on your computer at work? Or do you unplug yourself from the news?

Do you also notice a difference between what is broadcasted on the cable news networks--what they think is news--and what makes news in news sources such as the NYTimes and BBC?

I get most of my news from a couple of sources:

1) Google News - I have it set up to deliver me a mix of Canadian and International news.
2) A local Daily newspaper that gets delivered to my door and which I read en route to work every morning.
3) BBC Radio - it's on while I am getting ready for work.
4) Various blogs on my RSS feeds.

I don't watch the news on TV.

...

I kind of take from a little bit of everything I guess. When I first get up and I'm puttering around with coffee and a cigarette I usually turn on the 24/7 stuff just to see what kind of big stories are kicking around and to at least stay current when I don't have time to look elsewhere. When I do have the time I try to get through the local paper and poke around online for real news...I maybe do that 2-3 times a week.

I do notice a shocking lack of relevant news on the 24/7s to the point of wondering why I bother to turn them on at all. Usually it seems to amount to incredibly shallow news about whats going on in Washington mixed with ridiculous sensationalism and rating grabber human interest stories (forget about international news unless is a MAJOR story). I find it amazing how many relevant and important stories I've missed if I don't check up on any real news outlets for a week or two.

I get the Globe and Mail delivered every morning and that's where I get my hard news. I get my Outrage o' the Day alerts from Reddit and Fark.

Most TV news is so full of self-righteousness and dazzle that I can't stand it. I go to CBC and BBC News and CNN if there's something big happening RIGHT NOW!!!

I very rarely watch TV news, even with cable. I'm with Wes...too much political crap mixed with ridiculous sensationalism. One of the local stations here is constantly having "This common household item could KILL YOU!!!!!!!, tune in at 5" type stories, which are inevitably about a moron lacking common sense that stuck a fork in a socket or something. No thanks.

I read my local paper online and get my national news at CNN.com, but I'd like to find a different source for my national news.

Honestly? I avoid the news lately. Sometimes I listen to NPR, and I read their biggest articles as they pop up in my facebook feed. I very occasionally watch the local news, but overall I get introduced to the biggest stories via facebook, TFP, or Reddit.

I can't avoid the news...it's my job to know what's going on. Specifically I need to know what's going on in the world of science so I don't get a lot of the political sensationalism until it's a hot scientific breakthrough that politicians pick up on. So my news cycle tends to be different than most people.

Local news was helpful when I moved across the country. It helped me get acclimated and learn about my new surroundings.

I find it interesting how many of us don't watch the news on TV. I imagine the results are a little skewed because we're all people posting on an Internet forum.

Now I kinda wish I'd made a poll with this thread, but I couldn't think of all the possible options.

I stopped watching television news in high school (late 80s). I get the daily local newspaper, Time Magazine, used to listen to NPR news when I commuted, and now general tidbits from the interwebs.