3 ms·
*Disclaimer: working on a news startup to combat some of these issues* I find it interesting first of all that local news -- and weather, especially -- are th
by jaredwiener 5y ago
*Disclaimer: working on a news startup to combat some of these issues*
I find it interesting first of all that local news -- and weather, especially -- are the most trusted in the US. It reminds me of that old half-joke that everyone hates Congress but loves their congressperson -- but more likely it's that the issues that hit close to home are less likely to be polarized across traditional political lines.
We've long passed the inflection point where people seem to judge trustworthiness based on alignment to their own predetermined biases. If I tell you that what you think is wrong -- even if I have a factual basis for that; or more mildly, just frame something in a way that you might disagree with, you can label me as biased.
How did we get here? I think a lot of the blame comes from social media. Local news really cannot trend -- by definition it appeals to a narrow audience, and no one is sharing city council minutes. People do share outrage -- forcing the most polarizing content to the top. And, not for nothing, newsfeeds often put propaganda and disinformation -- or just lowest-common-denominator ("7 child stars: where are they now?") -- to compete at the same level as traditional journalism.
I (previously) wrote some thoughts here: https://blog.nillium.com/news-was-never-meant-for-social-platforms/ https://blog.nillium.com/news-was-never-meant-for-social-pla...
- kyle_martin1 5y agoLocal news stations get their agenda for their parent companies. They are told what to cover, what not to cover, and how to cover things to fit the overarching narrative from executives/producers.
- xadhominemx 5y agoYes, and the largest of those parent companies are explicitly right wing / Republican aligned.
- rscoots 5y agoWhy mention company size and not the far more relevant total viewership #s?
- xadhominemx 5y agoSinclair viewership numbers dwarf MSNBC’s. They own local news affiliates reaching 40% of American households. MSNBC gets south of 2m viewers in prime time.
- rscoots 5y agoMSNBC is not a local network and is not the only liberal TV news broadcast in the country. Neither is Sinclair the only conservative.
- xadhominemx 5y agoSorry what’s your point?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- rscoots 5y agoThat comparing 2 randomly selected companies does nothing to measure the total left/right viewership and engagement of news broadcasts. Why downvote if you didn't understand my point?
- mymanz 5y agoYes, see this post from earlier in the week. It is a youtube video in which dozens of local news stations repeat the exact same script. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27550122 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27550122
- jaredwiener 5y agoIn some cases, yes. But thats also a very small amount of outlets, and a small amount of all coverage. Still, its the most trusted of the group.
- unishark 5y agoI have lived in places where I had a lower opinion of my congressperson than of the rest of congress, and where the majority voted the opposite direction from myself on laws and ballot measures. I still found the local news to be much more professional about doing a matter-of-fact reporting job than national news, even for national outlets I may agree with in terms of bias. Also PBS news has been quite good over the years that I watched it (though I haven't watched any recently, as the current events themselves have become such stress-inducing toxicity, regardless who reports it).