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In decades past our access to news was the morning paper, morning local news, afternoon local and national news, and evening local news. The rest of the day was free from news unless a major event was taking place. Today there are cable news networks and internet news always at the palm of our hand.
In the 70s & 80s we had the threat of nuclear war, airplane and cruise ship hijackings, terrorist bombings (leftist communist radicals mostly), and very real environmental threats from companies dumping waste into the land and water and smog thicker than a Pacific fog. We also had serial killers on the loose, post office shootings, and Iran holding US Embassy workers hostage. But through all that we could turn off the news and enjoy our lives. Now this modern journalism seems to highlight certain news stories over and over again giving people perception its always happening, everything is a “news alert” even though they already alerted you to the story several times. People with more life experience can tune out such things but it seems some people take this constant bombardment or news to heart leading to fear, worry, and depression which can lead to suicide.
I rarely ever turn on any cable news network except for the Weather Channel (hurricane country). I still get news alerts on my phone but I can search for alternative sources to get a different perspective on the story or do research to learn more on the topic. Sadly some only seem to read the headline and jump to anger or outrage without looking at the facts first. If all you read is a headline or the first paragraph then you don’t know the whole story.
I ma trying to understand your question.... appears to be a commonly known statement that, media does just what you describe. Yes. And those are really not news, they are coded psychological messages and, this is exactly why headlines and first paragraph aim at providing most damage, as people don't really read deeper anymore. They can take information only in small blocks.
Here's example.
Boat sinks during river parade.
Boat sinks during Trump rally. (ergo, it is Trump fault)
Here's another headline comparison:
Man dies after he was detained by police.
Black man killed by white police officer during detention.
This is how minds are steered in desired directions just by headlines. Or, a tweet.
Anyhow. You can change notifications settings on your phone to stop receiving those "updates'.
Otherwise, best option is to STOP watching news. You will go through about a week of withdrawal, as it will appear, that world is crumbling and you do not know, what happens and, maybe you have to run somewhere to do something... just to find out that, should you persist, that world is doing just fine. Life goes on as it did before. Dead bodies are not piling up in the street, in front of your house. Armed looters are not trespassing your property. People in your circle live same lives, as you did before. Nothing really changed - except your stress level went down.
That's about it. It's simple addiction and, possibly, more dangerous, than alcohol. Stress is known killer. MUCH higher rate, than COVID.
Yes, there is a saturation of news in our lives these days, and I do believe that it's having a negative, polarizing effect on society. People are less civil and more quick to jump to conclusions, entertain conspiracy theories, be influenced by confirmation bias, etc. People are more likely to define others by the political labels they automatically place on them, and dismiss or demonize those whom they have labeled either "conservatives" or "liberals."
It's not just "modern journalism" that's responsible for this, either. There are many (too many) self-styled journalists who have created their own news platforms via social media, and they are also spreading their spin on various events that happen. People are too easily influenced by the sound bites and far too few people take the time to further investigate what they're hearing. Critical thinking seems almost non-existent.
While I believe it's good to be informed, I don't think that today's news saturation is making people more informed. I think it's making people more likely to react without thinking.
Last edited by Rachel NewYork; 09-07-2020 at 10:03 AM..
In decades past our access to news was the morning paper, morning local news, afternoon local and national news, and evening local news. The rest of the day was free from news unless a major event was taking place. Today there are cable news networks and internet news always at the palm of our hand.
In the 70s & 80s we had the threat of nuclear war, airplane and cruise ship hijackings, terrorist bombings (leftist communist radicals mostly), and very real environmental threats from companies dumping waste into the land and water and smog thicker than a Pacific fog. We also had serial killers on the loose, post office shootings, and Iran holding US Embassy workers hostage. But through all that we could turn off the news and enjoy our lives. Now this modern journalism seems to highlight certain news stories over and over again giving people perception its always happening, everything is a “news alert” even though they already alerted you to the story several times. People with more life experience can tune out such things but it seems some people take this constant bombardment or news to heart leading to fear, worry, and depression which can lead to suicide.
I rarely ever turn on any cable news network except for the Weather Channel (hurricane country). I still get news alerts on my phone but I can search for alternative sources to get a different perspective on the story or do research to learn more on the topic. Sadly some only seem to read the headline and jump to anger or outrage without looking at the facts first. If all you read is a headline or the first paragraph then you don’t know the whole story.
. We can still do that. TV's still have off-switches.
. We can still do that. TV's still have off-switches.
Enjoy your life!
I do turn off the news networks. But the combined network news ratings shows a great many people still watch regularly. Another factor is the frequent airline traveler. They don’t have a choice as airport televisions are paid to stay on CNN. For airports it would make sense to have their TVs on the weather channel as that is vital news for an airline traveler and its program shows are interesting and family friendly.
it was in almost all instances the SAME material, with the SAME degree of high professional review
(editing, fact checking, source quality, etc) and it was almost always delivered at about the same time each day...
like the morning paper or the evening news with Chet or Walter.
What we have today is in almost all instances a LESSER product...
and what's even worse an incessant presentation of that. Neither are good for us.
Instill fear in the population and they are easily controlled. Watch century of the self on youtube. Very interesting influence that media has on the mind. The ones at the top want us to hate each other. Classic divide and conquer tactic.
In life we have categories of people Producers and Consumers 90% and beyound belong to the consumer category.
Consumers like stuff and corporate/people/marketers amass great wealth from this thrist of STUFF or consumerism.
All the way down to what we consume our time with i.e news, media, books, hobbies, events, obsessions etc.. the average person(s) consumers anything on the screen and feels compelled by information as they believe they're being enlightened or enriched only to be spoiled with rottenness,hatred, fodder and fear- generally.
Strangely the (healthy) obsessive-compulsive-creative-types win at life ultimately. Inventing, bothered obsessing over their creations or thoughts or blind ambition.
Bad as things are today, I wouldn't wish a return to the good ole days. For the most part Cable, TV, & Radio, is a cesspit. Honorable exceptions are NPR, and PBS. There are still a handful of good newspapers.
That said, never before has there been access to so much good journalism. You just have to educate yourself and be a discerning consumer of news. I rarely go to the sites of the major news outlets,preferring instead to get a digest email from them. I find that much*more efficient. They are sending me their top content, the rest I can live without.
I'm with comedian John Cleese when he said about Cancel Culture, "organising society on the basis of what's acceptable to the most emotionally fragile" is a slippery slope. I think the same general principle applies to news media.
Every time I read something I'm seriously interested in, from a source I'm unfamiliar with, I research the source. After Google, the first ports of call will be Wiki, Poynter, and CJR.
That said, never before has there been access to so much good journalism.
You just have to educate yourself and be a discerning consumer of news.
There have ALWAYS been higher level sources of news. That isn't the question.
The question, the topic even, is about what has happened to the mass market.
And how that impacts the less sophisticated who don't have the first clue
about qualifying alternate sources. They just get the loudest. And that is a horror.
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