NFT: Anyone else cut out the news?

5 minutes of the evening news last night, which I never do (I usually just watch an episode of house of cards or read a magazine while my wife watches bachelor in paradise) - horrific shooting, migrants fighting to get into Europe, stocks tanking. terrible way to go to bed.

Dr. Weil (the Harvard-educated Mind/Body doctor who used to promote his programs on PBS) suggests that every now and then you should take a "News Fast" (not watch or read any news for a week or so) for your own emotional well being.

Also, don't make the mistake of watching something that will only make you feel shitty (like the video of yesterday's VA TV reporter's live shooting). Watching something like that can actually do your body harm and there is no benefit to being exposed to those images.
News Fast Info - ( New Window )

Highly recommend it. Nothing like a newborn baby to make you feel like the sky is falling.

I normally load up the CNN app just before going underground on the subway, that way I can read the news without service.

Not today. Put on Spotify and played the mindless iOS game Crossyroad. High score of 440, baby.

all the horrible things going on in the world.

I only browse news in print form.

today's "news" is editorial commentary disguised as something you would want to know. I feel like I'm being lectured when I watch or listen via Sirius Radio to FoxCnnCbsAbcNbc.

Everyone has their own defition of real news; for me the Drudge Report and the London Telegraph are my daily sources.

because I was totally fed up with politics. I've gotten sucked back in some this election season.

I got more and more fed-up with the current way news was presented when polling became the basis for news stories. I first noticed this transition during the early 90's. It seemed like 'poll driven news' was all the rage at CNN and MSNBC. Since then, it has become a stable in the news business. I challenge anyone to watch any one-hour block of 'news' or read any newspaper/magazine and not find a reference to polling on something, somewhere.

IMHO... polls are a not so subtle way to shape the news. It's designed to fit whatever template the news organization wants to present. I remember all of the 2005-2008 polls of 'people in Europe' who thought George Bush had caused international relations to erode. Those polls set the tone for news and the narratives for the network hacks, CNN and MSNBC.

I don't watch any of the Mainstream Media channels anymore. The big corporations have taken them over so they have all lost their relevance to me. I do listen to the local radio stations in my car to get traffic and weather updates so I do hear some news at that time.

podcasts, reddit, and message board links. Anything on TV is what the corporations want you to see.

That was one of the dumber things I've read from you. Turn on Fox though - it seems that no matter what's going on in the world, for the last few months, the preponderance of time, especially at the beginning of the show will be Hilary Clinton or Planned Parenthood.

if you follow history. Research explains why.

Not the news. Only what they want you to think about. Mostly propaganda.

even the news sources I "trust," have agendas that impact their ability to report accurately and unbiasedly. I do think CNN is the best of a bad bunch, but the more I've learned, the more I've disliked a lot of their practices.

There are a lot of publications I love reading (like The Atlantic), but I don't use them for day-to-day coverage, so to speak. I love a lot of their pieces, but it's not something that would ever have much of an impact with "late breaking news."

But yesterday was the first time some catastrophe happened, that there was video of it available, and I actively avoided it.

I'm just over it.

stick around, I say a lot more stupid things than that. Although in this case, I don't know what stupid thing you're referring to...