Photos

MORE: Rural | City | Food | All galleries


Why I don't read the news

Newspaper, radio, and TV news articles frustrate me with the way they present their information. I think newspapers are sealing their own fate as they decline.

Newsless.org outlines three major things that most news articles lack. I'll try to roughly summarize:
  • we do get bits and pieces of what just happened today

  • we don't get the context of the situation (including longstanding facts of the last decade or two)

  • we don't get a discussion of how we know the information (you're supposed to trust the unknown sources of an institution like the N.Y. Times)

  • they don't talk about the unknowns, or open questions
I think good bloggers often address all of these things. They need a strong connection with their readers because they don't have the institutional momentum of an old newspaper. And they're usually directed at people especially interested in a given topic. I've found some blogs written by experts I trust and use them to get the news, but there's no reason newspapers can't adapt to what readers want.

2 comments:

Mars Girl said...

Plus, all the news sources are highly slanted. Try getting the straight poop about the health care reform bill as just a recent example of how everything gets played in the news. It's like you have to go read the whole bill yourself to trust what it really says because someone is out there who is paraphrasing it in some way to make it sounds as sinister as they want it...

And I hate TV news and all their stupid puns. And those horrible lead-in--Next: Why drinking milk can kill you.

They are so dishonest!

Erin said...

Hi Scott!
I wrote this a couple of days ago and seems that the word vicarious keeps coming up:

Sounds like loads of fun-- exploring, seeing what there is to see, traveling the world (albeit small circle).
I feel like I am vicariously traveling with you with the info and pictures.Fun stuff.

Be careful and make sure to stretch! Erin