Aravnah Ornan

Then I guess The Washington Post doesn't qualify as a mainstream US medium.

Straight Hate

In response to Mike D.:

"I have lived in 3 continents. I have had years where I made minimum wage. I have had years were I spent many months unemployed. I have had years when I made lots of money. I see people less fortunate then myself every day. I don't need to watch the news to appreciate being employed and having to work hard sometimes."

I will be sure to double-check, but I don't think my experience-to-date is as impressive as yours. Now would you really deny me the chance to catch up? It is heartening to hear, however, teen angst really does disappear when one becomes 'adult' (...just a shame there are so few of them on this particular planet).

"If I want to educate myself on a topic I'll read a book, watch some documentaries or browse the web to get a true variety of opinions and in-depth studies."

And how exactly is this media not 'news'? Or did I perceive the original question to be broader in scope than what was intended? I would think 'news' extends beyond intellectually-offensive headlines and 10-second sound bites.

"That kind of news is most of the 10% of general news that I consider valuable. Still, I'd rather go to a Forum or a website that focuses on those kinds of issues than sit through a regular news broadcast."

Internet forums may be reminiscent of a format long-extinct (or never-existing, but often romanticized), but I would still file them under the 'news' category. Correct me if I'm wrong, but your distaste seems directed more at the medium and method rather than the desire to satiate one's curioiusity for the going's-on of the world around them.

"There's nothing wrong with being a sucker for drama. I just like mine with a good script ."

Should you find that in Buffy, I must jokingly offer you the same concession I do Christians - I'm happy you've found something in what I could not.

...And if it's a question of drama, the real world takes it without a second thought.

mike_decock

Of course not. My intention wasn't really to try to argue that people shouldn't watch the news and keep track of current events. I just want to understand a little better why doing so often seems to come with a kind of superiority complex vs. us rock-dwellers.

Well, from the options in the poll, I'm considering "news" as any programming or content that advertises itself as such. News TV/Radio/Web, Local/National News shows, newspapers, etc. I wouldn't list Discovery, TLC or History Channel as news sources, unless they are broadcasting a news show.

I simply don't see the value in knowing if Prince What's-His-Name is celebrating his 21st birthday, if some ex-football player is driving his Bronco down the highway or if there was a minor earthquake in Turkey. These things have absolutely 0 impact on my life and they are beyond the scope of my interests.

If something is major or important, I'll hear about it. Somebody will bring it up in conversation or in a Forum Discussion. If I'm interested, I'll do further research. I don't need to dig through news sources to find news that matters to me, it will find me.

Nobody can know everything about everything and at some point, you have to choose your ignorance. For me, it's news, sports and knowing how to fix a car. Instead, I learn about computers, ancient history, psychology or whatever I need or want to know at the time.

Even though I'm a Buffy fan, I think no less of those who have found no value in watching the show. Why do those who watch the news often seem to think less of those who find no value in watching it?

-Mike...

Straight Hate

"Why do those who watch the news often seem to think less of those who find no value in watching it?"

I was probably about 8 years old when I heard a customer of my dad's make the comment 'I haven't watched the news in six months - someone's always getting robbed or killed and I don't have any use for it'. It made sense then and it makes sense now. In that respect, I agree with your position.

However, it's been my experience that those who dislike the news or take no interest in it are the first to take pride in their ignorance as they force it upon others. I shudder to think of the world where they are actually in a position to see their misdirection through. I may 'know it all' when it comes to arguing with someone, but deep down inside I'm not really that oblivious to reality. I believe keeping track of what's going on in the world ensures the strength of that understanding.

pariah

arent other countries news programs just as biased/filled with propoganda, except from a different viewpoint?

sakrilege

NPR, Sunday Plain Dealer, IIDB.

BigBlue2

Primarily from The Sydney Morning Herald and our local newscasts.

ajmilne

Okay. I'm a very, very addicted news junkie, never really stop reading. A full list would run to many, many pages. But a merciless editing of my shortlist brings up my current favourites as:

Google News. A simply incredible news engine. I have a form on my local start page that points at it, and browse the autogenerated page at least twice a day.

CBC Radio One. I live in Ottawa, it's on the dial, ideal for when I'm driving. Solid news radio, a bit leaner of late between national news due to cutbacks, however.

Democracy Now!. A recent interview with host Amy Goodman in mainstream media introduced her as "the pole star" of folk looking for a leftist perspective. Goodman and co-host Juan Gonzalez are more than leftist: they're profoundly, fiercely independently so. Catch it on Pacifica in the US, but as the show now streams in RealAudio and MP3, I can listen to it via broadband on days I'm not actually visiting Washington. Marvellous show.

Footnote: Goodman's history is itself fascinating: Google on Goodman, Allan Nairn, and the Santa Cruz massacre, for a piece of journalistic history. Or, for that matter, on Democracy Now!'s battle with host station WBAI in mid-2001.

The Guardian. A good left-leaning UK paper.

Radio France Internationale. I read just enough French that I can get by with the written bulletins; the audio stuff I find harder, but it's a nicely different perspective, again.

Human Rights Watch. Strictly speaking, not media. But check their archives. Great baseline data on countries; good for perspective. Generally a very trusted source; when groups with potentially conflicted interests start grumbling about the human right situation in country X, it never hurts to see what HRW makes of the situation.

Greg Palast. Okay, it's low turnover, so he doesn't make up that much of my reading. But I put him in because I do hang on his updates. Really interesting UK-based investigative reporter with serious talent and chutzpah.

CNN. Of course.

The International Herald-Tribune. Really, really good for spot news, broad global coverage.

The New York Times. Of course.

The Financial Times. Noam Chomsky once pointed out that financial papers usually do relatively honest coverage in most dimensions of a story because the people who read them need the facts, not the spin. I think this might be why I keep finding myself reading the FT, but actually, I'm not sure. It's just a trend of late. Google News seems to spit it up pretty often on my searches, too.

The Toronto Star. Grew up reading this paper, and did a bit of freelance stuff for them long ago, so it's partly nostalgia. But the print edition is phone-book sized, and the web edition ain't bad either. Peerless for breadth of Canadian coverage, pretty solid international section too. Another good, substantive, centre-left paper.

Yes, these are all (excepting CNN) rather print-centric and radio sources. I don't watch much TV news. Find it kinda inefficient, insofar as in two minutes of TV news, you get what you probably get in 20 seconds of reading.

mike_decock

Sure, just like those who are disinterested in the Buffyverse are the first to take pride in their ignorance of it.

Here's where I disagree with you. I think that 90% of the news and 99% of the discussions they spark have no more value or global impact than a debate over which a Buffy episode is the best.

Again, I'm not trying to argue worldwide ignorance of anything beyond the scope of one's personal life. I just think the importance of being "aware" of most world events is overrated.

-Mike...

God Fearing Atheist

My favorite: Antiwar.com.