Author Topic: In which I rant about how the news is reported (Read 1496 times)

CC27 · « **on:** December 11, 2015, 02:14:01 PM »

Quote

Star Member dixiegrrrrl (43,670 posts)

In which I rant about how the news is reported

which was key factor in our cutting the cord and one of the reasons I do not watch news on tv/internet

Tis the hysteria over nothing that blares out of the speakers.
Wolf Blitzer in particular uses such such a loud voice, but he is not alone in this.
Not mention there seems to be a need to have a couple of plastic people onscreen,to tell us what they are going to tell us, before they turn it over to someone standing around with a microphone who will tell us again what is going to be shown on the video that they told us they were going to tell us about.
Which may be an actually necessity, since anything shown on the screen is going to be blocked out by a station
ID banner on the bottom and some crap on the top of the screen, and the station logo again on the side of the screen.

Then there is the excited exaggeration of the print news.
Perfectly demonstrated by an eye catching headline this morning on the Accuweather weather page:

Tornado Destroys Dozens of Homes in Battle Ground, Washington

On the page itself is a video of the damage.
Not destruction...just some minor damage of fallen fences, a few fallen trees, one bent garage door.
Homes intact, no serious damage ( it was an F-1, and short lived) and NO "destroyed homes".
In fact, the word "destroyed" was used only once........in the headline, to make you read the article.
http://tinyurl.com/nm3mlmk

Same thing on all the tv.newspaper coverage of the storm in that area...nothing showing any destruction of homes.

This, from the same people I trust to be reliable in telling me what the weather will be.
They are not doing a very good job of that either.

What is your point Dummie?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027442001

franksolich · « **Reply #1 on:** December 11, 2015, 02:38:37 PM »

I will say I'm happy without bothering with television news.

Some several months ago, while waiting in a physician's office, I glanced at the television, which was broadcasting Fox News. The "main story" at the time was that Barbara Bush was being released from the hospital.

That part occupied the left-hand half of the screen. The right-hand half of the screen had two stories going on, one on top of the other. And then along the bottom there was that continuous ribbon of text.

That was four things one had to pay attention to at the same time.

<<<despite having few or no cerebral problems, can pay attention to only one thing at a time.

And I had it easier than hearing people; being deaf, I at least wasn't being bombarded by auditory input too.

How, and why, do people put up with this shit?