When Laura wrote about this the other day, it prompted this thought from DM, one of our local yokels. He brought up that it’s almost impossible to get a well balanced source of information. Which lead me to wonder where most of us go? What or who do most of us turn to for our news and or information on things?
This is going to sound ridiculous but I listen to our local news at 11 AM. 12 PM, 5, 6 & 10. I don’t really listen too much of the world news. Unless something catastrophic happens, I tune that out. Paul and I will occasionally watch Nightline after our 10 o’clock news if there is something on there that interests us but we mostly watch things we DVR at other times.
I know A LOT of people who do watch cable news all day long and their televisions don’t change channels much. I do notice however that what channel you’re watching takes on a “tone” of “one side or the other.” I do feel whatever news you watch, you are getting the tone of the person delivering it to you. Don’t you think so?
My mom will say “so and so” only watches “this or that” because they are republican or democrat. Or way to the right or way to the left. Open minded or very old-fashioned and narrow-minded. Do you think this is true?
So my question is where do you turn for your news? Do you go online for it and if so, where? Do you watch your local news or the major news networks like Fox and CNN? Just where do you turn for your news?
Us Girls..Our Views 
I don’t watch news on TV. I check the internet. Normally I check one conservative source and one liberal source periodically throughout the day. It is always interesting to see the different spins, and also the way some important stories never make it onto some networks at all. If it goes against the theme they want you to agree with, they just won’t report it. Or if they do, they will use a misleading headline. Both sides do this, so I feel it’s important to see both sides. I still have very strong opinions (conservative), but at least I have a clue what is being discussed on both sides.
I check several other internet sites that have articles that touch on news to a greater or lesser degree. As with much of the media, these tend to lean liberal. But I also try to read Rush Limbaugh’s transcripts as often as I get a chance. He’s a staunch conservative, but he is an exceptionally good source of information. The libs hype him up to be an extreme, ignorant rabble-rouser, but that isn’t true. He is very intelligent and focuses mostly on facts. Yes, he also incorporates humor and sarcasm which are readily taken out of context. People ought to read a full transcript just to understand how he operates, because the mainstream media is continuously misrepresenting him.
I can’t bear to watch the TV news because I have no control over how long I have to listen to a particular line of drivel. On the internet, I can skip past a headline that doesn’t interest me, or I can skim an article, or I can read it and copy it and email it to someone. I have control and I don’t have to hear something that makes me want to grind my teeth for 10 minutes. People here used to run CNN all the time on the living room TV. Finally they got their own TV in their room, or I would still be grinding my teeth. Remember all that stuff about whether or not Clinton was having “inappropriate relations” with Monica Lewinsky? I could not stand to look at that liar and see his lying face constantly. Nothing like a great sex scandal to get the media excited. Ugh.
I watch different channels for the news, as well as the internet now and then. But I never will tune into the O Reilly factor again. That man is too immature. He almost cries when it doesn’t go his way, or he bullies his guests so much with facts that aren’t true, he just makes them up. He makes me aggressive when I watch him, and I do not like that feeling.
I really do not like the news! I watch CNN or a similar news once a week or every other week. I listen to the radio more for news. Or catch headlines online. I think nightly news/daily is so negative and promotes fear.
@Tessa and Shane. I know there are plenty of times the news is sad but I still like to know what’s going on. It doesn’t do any good to bury your head in the sand. Maybe if you see something that really bothers you, you can do something about it. How can you know what’s going on in the world if you don’t watch the news?
And headlines, this is kind of what we were talking about the other day. How misleading they are and how so many people just go by a headline.
Here is what prompted this post. It’s from DM.
“like someone mentioned, you could take this in so many directions- but the sensational head-lines and twisting of information (referring to the machete story) really is @ the root of a lot of fear in our culture today. I want to stay informed about current events as much as the next guy, but finding a good, well balanced source of information is getting harder and harder to find- because as someone said, the almighty dollar is behind so much of this. I do have a great magazine I subscribe to where I get 90% of my information- it’s balanced, funny, always thoughtful and not swayed by any special interest group- if you’d like to know more-stop by my blog or shoot me an e-mail…later- dm”
I actually agree with Tessa on this one. News is way to depressing and they try to scare the public. The only time I watch the news is when something big happens. Like the healthcare reform bill that just passed, I watched the local news and fox news to hear there veiws on it, oh yeah and I just watched the Glen Beck show. If I watched the news everyday I would never leave the house. JK
I almost never watch the news on TV… but I read several news papers online. I get my news on a daily basis from the NYT, CNN, BBC, Washington Post, and a few smaller international news sites. Sometime I might read certain local papers if I want more information about something. for instance, if there is something going on in Colorado that I’m interested in I’ll read the Denver Post.
I don’t have Cable TV. All I have is that lovely digital box, so I get only local stuff. I’ll occasionally watch the 10:00 News, but that’s mostly stuff out of Waterloo and Cedar Rapids, and they tend to be pretty even-handed about most stuff, which is nice.
For national stuff, I go to the internet. I can only get two stations, reliably, on my radio, and both are AM. I keep it on through the day, mostly for background noise, and the station runs Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity and now they’ve picked up Levin – back to back. So I get a lot of the same thing throughout the day, just in ever-increasing decibels. By the time Levin graces the airwaves with his screaming Mickey-Mouse Voice, I’m ready to just turn it off.
But I tend to listen most to Rush and Glenn Beck for factual stuff on politics. I know they do their research, and get the background. When an issue really interests me, I’ll go looking for stuff to support it – I hit sites like FactCheck.org, Snopes, and a variety of newspapers. Wall Street Journal is one of my favorites, although they tend to be wordy (I know, me, accusing someone ELSE of being wordy). I’ll also cruise over to HuffPost or DailyKos for the occasional dose of outrage… I mean… another perspective.
Yeah, I’m conservative. But I am blessed/cursed with the ability to look at an issue and see the other side. Doesn’t mean the other side is right, it just means that I can often understand where they’re coming from.
For news other than politics (is there any, really, anymore? EVERYTHING is put through a political lens these days), I look at different sites around the ‘net, depending upon where something happens. (like Haiti) Lately, I’ve found myself going to British (Telegraph) and Irish newspapers to get the entire story, because newspapers in the U.S. are so beholden to politics that you get a washed version.
I only watch our local news for the weather. For world news I watch CNN and FOXNews. I watch CNN Morning Express w/ Robin Meade almost every morning. Otherwise I read online, usually if a headline catches my attention, I’ll read it. I’m picky on what news anchors I watch actually. Some drive me nuts, where as some I love.
THE PROBLEM IS THAT MOST NEWS CHANNELS DO NOT STOP WITH GIVING NEWS , THEY THRUST THEIR VIEWS ON THE VIEWERS. READ THE NEWS AND FROM YOUR OWN VIEWS.
I watch our local news and Fox News. We have 3 local news stations and they can all report the same story about a duck crossing the road but you get 3 different stories. One would report that the duck walked across the road, the other would report how wrong it is that a road is in the way of the duck and the other would report about how lucky the duck is that he was not shot while making his way across the road!
LOL!! Isn’t that ever the truth!