6 ms·

> In conclusion, TV news should be ended in all forms. Wow. I agree there's a lot of misinformation and poor reporting on TV news, but that's like saying the

by kbutler 15y ago

> In conclusion, TV news should be ended in all forms. Wow. I agree there's a lot of misinformation and poor reporting on TV news, but that's like saying the Internet should be ended because of the poor quality of slashdot comments.

TeMPOraL 15y ago
> In conclusion, TV news should be ended in all forms. Even though it sounds a bit broad, I'll second the idea behind it as I understand it. > Wow. I agree there's a lot of misinformation and poor reporting on TV news, but that's like saying the Internet should be ended because of the poor quality of slashdot comments. There's too many misinformation and poor reporting on TV and no way to distinguish truth from falsehood. You wouldn't trust a person who verifiably lied to you 70% of the time. That's why you don't trust YouTube comments. It's a waste of brain resources to even try. The same thing happened with newspapers and major news station. Even most news from news sites that end up on HN get debunked in comments after few hours by people who actually know the domain. I personally don't know who to believe now - everyone on "popular news" seems to try either to steal attention, or to advertise something. And the truth suffers.
- Zaak 15y ago
  I for one would be willing to pay a modest fee for news that was consistently accurate and relevant (ie, made sure to catch important developments that are typically ignored by other new sources). Any suggestions?
  - oostevo 15y ago
    Private intelligence?[1] They tend to put a much larger emphasis on delivering good information over writing an engaging story. They do focus almost entirely on geopolitical news, though. Stratfor and KGS both offer free access to a limited set of their analysis.[2,3] [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_intelligence_agency http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_intelligence_agency [2] http://www.stratfor.com/ http://www.stratfor.com/ [3] http://www.kforcegov.com/Services/IS/NightWatch.aspx http://www.kforcegov.com/Services/IS/NightWatch.aspx
  - Symmetry 15y ago
    Pay for The Economist? From the articles I have the expertise to judge, they're occasionally insightful and always seem to have at least a tenuous grasp on issue at hand. Which is in sharp contrast to the reporting in other general news sources, which is often hilariously wrong. Only publishing once a week leave a lot more time for fact checking.
wpietri 15y ago
For that analogy to be correct, shitty TV news stories would have to be a relatively small proportion of total TV news. That's not my experience.
RyanMcGreal 15y ago
A number of studies have consistently shown that TV news makes people dumber: more misinformed, more irrational, more confused, and less able to draw reasonable conclusions or make good decisions.
- TeMPOraL 15y ago
  > A number of studies have consistently shown that TV news makes people dumber While I believe that and I like the conclusion, my inner rationalist screams: [citation needed] :).
  - wolf550e 15y ago
    http://www.alternet.org/media/149193/study_confirms_that_fox_news_makes_you_stupid/ http://www.alternet.org/media/149193/study_confirms_that_fox...
    - dagw 15y ago
      Fox News != all tv news. Reproduce that study using, say, BBC News or Al Jazeera English (or even better BBC news and Al Jazeera English) and we'll talk. Not saying those channels are perfect, but not all TV is created equal.
      - jonah 15y ago
        It's true that there is quite a variety but I'd venture to guess that most US TV news clusters closer to Fox than it would to BBC/AJE. I think only part of the problem with mainstream TV news is inherent in the medium. There's a lot of effort put into making it infotainment.
- AndyNemmity 15y ago
  That particular type of TV news. Not all TV news. The medium is not the same thing as the type of content.
  - 15y ago
SomeCallMeTim 15y ago
I've personally been aware of the back story and facts behind maybe a dozen different US network news reports. In several cases I knew the people being interviewed. Every single time, the news, as reported, contained glaring factual errors or lies by implication that were introduced to make more of a story. In many cases it wasn't an issue of a reporter misunderstanding the story, but rather an issue of "let's take these facts and meld them into a more compelling story." That kind of blatant disregard for truth and pandering for ratings has no place on public airwaves.
- WalterBright 15y ago
  I can confirm this. I was involved in an incident once. The TV news reporters all came out and covered it. That evening, I watched the reports on the same event from 3 channels. They all got the basic facts 100% wrong, and each channel had a different set of those wrong facts. It wasn't even an issue of bias, or making the story more compelling. It was simply slap-dash, string any-old list of crap together, run it, and move on to the next item. It was an eye-opening experience for me.
  - electromagnetic 15y ago
    I'm thankful that the city I live in has no media coverage. We've had police standing off with a guy barricaded in his own home on our street and nothing even touches the news even though they shut off the area for 5 hours. I have no clue why, I think it might be because you can find police dispatch feeds for every neighboring city except ours. That's the only thing I can think of as I live in a very affluent area and the most we've ever got was the local paper covering a drive by shooting (I live in Canada so it's virtually unheard of, especially in my area - first in 15 years or something)
nickpinkston 15y ago
Compromise: let's just end any subsidies, bandwidth licenses, etc. so we're at least not supporting it...
absconditus 15y ago
Except that all local TV news coverage on the major networks is bad almost without exception and cable news has degraded into celebrity news, opinions from Facebook and Twitter and heavily biased, uninformed opinion segments. If you get your news from a television news show you are likely becoming less-informed and more prone to emotional response. PBS is one of the few organization that still broadcasts real journalism in the US and it is under constant attack by brain-dead politicians, cable news blowhards and some portion of the population whose minds have been dulled by television news.
- protomyth 15y ago
  PBS may do ok on the coasts where they have offices, but they (and NPR) are pretty horrible with reporting in the plains states. Their story on Wiliston ND was so full of errors and stock footage[1] it was amazing. NPR blew the figures on the SD Child Welfare study. They have an agenda that gets them market share and control costs the same way every other ``News'' organization does. [1] look reporters, ND does not have wandering buffalo herds everywhere, you can stop using the same stock footage anytime.
  - rdouble 15y ago
    There's not really another good way to signify ND, though. It's very hard to set up an interesting photograph or stock footage scene in an area that is totally flat, with no natural or man-made landmarks. American Public Media, which makes a lot of NPR content, is based in St. Paul.
    - protomyth 15y ago
      Western ND (where Williston ND is) is not "totally flat", it has the badlands. How about show that actual town when talking about it instead of stock buffalo footage? Its like every Native American story shows a Pow-Wow instead of the community the story took place in.
      - rdouble 15y ago
hyperbovine 15y ago
Ironically, it's a TV show we're talking about here.

by kbutler 15y ago

TeMPOraL 15y ago

> In conclusion, TV news should be ended in all forms. Even though it sounds a bit broad, I'll second the idea behind it as I understand it. > Wow. I agree there's a lot of misinformation and poor reporting on TV news, but that's like saying the Internet should be ended because of the poor quality of slashdot comments. There's too many misinformation and poor reporting on TV and no way to distinguish truth from falsehood. You wouldn't trust a person who verifiably lied to you 70% of the time. That's why you don't trust YouTube comments. It's a waste of brain resources to even try. The same thing happened with newspapers and major news station. Even most news from news sites that end up on HN get debunked in comments after few hours by people who actually know the domain. I personally don't know who to believe now - everyone on "popular news" seems to try either to steal attention, or to advertise something. And the truth suffers.

Zaak 15y ago
I for one would be willing to pay a modest fee for news that was consistently accurate and relevant (ie, made sure to catch important developments that are typically ignored by other new sources). Any suggestions?
- oostevo 15y ago
  Private intelligence?[1] They tend to put a much larger emphasis on delivering good information over writing an engaging story. They do focus almost entirely on geopolitical news, though. Stratfor and KGS both offer free access to a limited set of their analysis.[2,3] [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_intelligence_agency http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_intelligence_agency [2] http://www.stratfor.com/ http://www.stratfor.com/ [3] http://www.kforcegov.com/Services/IS/NightWatch.aspx http://www.kforcegov.com/Services/IS/NightWatch.aspx
- Symmetry 15y ago
  Pay for The Economist? From the articles I have the expertise to judge, they're occasionally insightful and always seem to have at least a tenuous grasp on issue at hand. Which is in sharp contrast to the reporting in other general news sources, which is often hilariously wrong. Only publishing once a week leave a lot more time for fact checking.

wpietri 15y ago

For that analogy to be correct, shitty TV news stories would have to be a relatively small proportion of total TV news. That's not my experience.

RyanMcGreal 15y ago

A number of studies have consistently shown that TV news makes people dumber: more misinformed, more irrational, more confused, and less able to draw reasonable conclusions or make good decisions.

TeMPOraL 15y ago
> A number of studies have consistently shown that TV news makes people dumber While I believe that and I like the conclusion, my inner rationalist screams: [citation needed] :).
- wolf550e 15y ago
  http://www.alternet.org/media/149193/study_confirms_that_fox_news_makes_you_stupid/ http://www.alternet.org/media/149193/study_confirms_that_fox...
  - dagw 15y ago
    Fox News != all tv news. Reproduce that study using, say, BBC News or Al Jazeera English (or even better BBC news and Al Jazeera English) and we'll talk. Not saying those channels are perfect, but not all TV is created equal.
    - jonah 15y ago
      It's true that there is quite a variety but I'd venture to guess that most US TV news clusters closer to Fox than it would to BBC/AJE. I think only part of the problem with mainstream TV news is inherent in the medium. There's a lot of effort put into making it infotainment.
AndyNemmity 15y ago
That particular type of TV news. Not all TV news. The medium is not the same thing as the type of content.
- 15y ago

SomeCallMeTim 15y ago

I've personally been aware of the back story and facts behind maybe a dozen different US network news reports. In several cases I knew the people being interviewed. Every single time, the news, as reported, contained glaring factual errors or lies by implication that were introduced to make more of a story. In many cases it wasn't an issue of a reporter misunderstanding the story, but rather an issue of "let's take these facts and meld them into a more compelling story." That kind of blatant disregard for truth and pandering for ratings has no place on public airwaves.

WalterBright 15y ago
I can confirm this. I was involved in an incident once. The TV news reporters all came out and covered it. That evening, I watched the reports on the same event from 3 channels. They all got the basic facts 100% wrong, and each channel had a different set of those wrong facts. It wasn't even an issue of bias, or making the story more compelling. It was simply slap-dash, string any-old list of crap together, run it, and move on to the next item. It was an eye-opening experience for me.
- electromagnetic 15y ago
  I'm thankful that the city I live in has no media coverage. We've had police standing off with a guy barricaded in his own home on our street and nothing even touches the news even though they shut off the area for 5 hours. I have no clue why, I think it might be because you can find police dispatch feeds for every neighboring city except ours. That's the only thing I can think of as I live in a very affluent area and the most we've ever got was the local paper covering a drive by shooting (I live in Canada so it's virtually unheard of, especially in my area - first in 15 years or something)

nickpinkston 15y ago

Compromise: let's just end any subsidies, bandwidth licenses, etc. so we're at least not supporting it...

absconditus 15y ago

Except that all local TV news coverage on the major networks is bad almost without exception and cable news has degraded into celebrity news, opinions from Facebook and Twitter and heavily biased, uninformed opinion segments. If you get your news from a television news show you are likely becoming less-informed and more prone to emotional response. PBS is one of the few organization that still broadcasts real journalism in the US and it is under constant attack by brain-dead politicians, cable news blowhards and some portion of the population whose minds have been dulled by television news.

protomyth 15y ago
PBS may do ok on the coasts where they have offices, but they (and NPR) are pretty horrible with reporting in the plains states. Their story on Wiliston ND was so full of errors and stock footage[1] it was amazing. NPR blew the figures on the SD Child Welfare study. They have an agenda that gets them market share and control costs the same way every other ``News'' organization does. [1] look reporters, ND does not have wandering buffalo herds everywhere, you can stop using the same stock footage anytime.
- rdouble 15y ago
  There's not really another good way to signify ND, though. It's very hard to set up an interesting photograph or stock footage scene in an area that is totally flat, with no natural or man-made landmarks. American Public Media, which makes a lot of NPR content, is based in St. Paul.
  - protomyth 15y ago
    Western ND (where Williston ND is) is not "totally flat", it has the badlands. How about show that actual town when talking about it instead of stock buffalo footage? Its like every Native American story shows a Pow-Wow instead of the community the story took place in.
    - rdouble 15y ago

hyperbovine 15y ago

Ironically, it's a TV show we're talking about here.