Why I Stopped Watching the News

Every Monday night my extended family gathers around my grandmother's big dining room table for a huge dinner and deafening conversation. This week my mother brought up the tragic tale of the teenage babysitters who got their little two and five-year-old cousins high on pot, which caused the children to be taken away from their mother. My mother was shocked, shocked I tell you! "Can you imagine!?" she exclaimed. "Two and five! What is wrong with people?" I don't know and I don't care anymore, I said. Or at least, that's what I was thinking. "I don't watch the news anymore" I actually said.

Just that day I clicked over to CNN.com to see what was happening in the world, not something I do very often these days. The headlines alone caused my stomach to sieze up and I couldn't bring myself to read anything. I won't repeat the headlines, but several of them were local horror stories from around the country, many involving young children. Why does anyone outside of those cities need to hear such terrible stories? What difference can it possibly make?

These are the questions I began asking myself many years ago when I moved out of my parents house and started thinking about how I wanted to live my life. I decided that I never wanted to subscribe to cable, a promise I've kept for a decade now. For a multitude of reasons, including advertising and worthless programming, I hate cable television. But the worst part of television, for me, is the news. And it's not just cable news. The big guys, ABC, CBS, and NBC are no better. OK, so what makes televised news so unpalatable?

Sensationalism. Watch a special report on a new health study or research findings and I guarantee you will hear words like "alarming, frightening, scary". I compared the same story (a new study of autism) on National Public Radio (NPR) and on a local CBS news affiliate. The difference was stark. While NPR reported the findings in a neutral, matter-of-fact tone, the CBS news anchor introduced the story with something like "an alarming new study shows that autism is on the rise in children" The NPR reporter cautiously noted that the study was not a cause for alarm because more tests needed to be done over a longer period in all states. This is just one small example of a normal story being exaggerated on the TV news for extra dramatic appeal.

Content. The headlines on CNN, FOX, and other cable news outlets range from celebrity trivia to oddball human comedy/tragedy stories from around the states. In depth reporting about important issues, you ask? No, you will not find it watching the news on television.

Passivity. Watching televised news is like sitting at a buffet and having the waiter force-feed you all of the warmed over chicken wings and sauted mushrooms. It is a passive event and the consequences are that you digest a bunch of crap you don't want. Who needs to hear about the man who's house caught on fire in the night because of a lit cigarette and all his children and pets died? Maybe the local people in his area would be interested, but not me. That is not calloused or uncaring. It is just emotional self-defense. If I have to know about all of the tragedy in the world, I am quickly going to get sympathy fatigue. I'll read the local paper so I know what is going on in my neighborhood where I can take action.

Control. Who decides what is news? Big media corporations. It is run by people who want to make sure you hear and see what they want you to hear and see. Simply put, they have an agenda and I don't want to be controlled in that way.

Advertising. Do you ever get the feeling that the news on television is like a big ad campaign for celebrities and politicians and corporations? This is the main reasons I won't have basic cable or even free television channels in my home. I can't stand commercials and the whole "get 'em hooked while their young" attitude of corporate America. As a side note: this is not to say I completely avoid TV entertainment. I download shows on iTunes, watch on the internet for free, and rent LOST on DVD with far less advertising pushed in my face.

Alternatives? The internet. The newspaper, maybe. News magazines. Documentaries. A book (gasp!). Anything that you can sit down with and engage a subject for longer than a minute. These options allow you to research an interesting topic and dig deep into the complexities of a story. News blogs are also a great way to get independant news.

National and international news is important. I am not advocating a bubble-wrapped existence of bliss and ignorance. But you have the control and intelligence to decide what you need to know. So, turn off the TV, grab a book or magazine and forget about Anna Nicole Smith for a day.