In my experience, many people who consume a lot of news without taking the time to study any issues in-depth can be as a consequence less well-informed about th

In my experience, many people who consume a lot of news without taking the time to study any issues in-depth can be as a consequence less well-informed about the world than people that don’t watch the news at all. The reason is that the news is a necessarily biased selection of facts. And a biased set of facts, even if accurate, can cause people to believe things about the world that are not true. The facts tend to be anecdotal evidence about things that invoke fear and outrage. Many people consequently have an extremely disproportionate, warped sense of what sorts of problems and dangers face themselves and society. This is of course a big problem. It is nobody’s job to provide you with a comprehensive, balanced set of important facts about the world that would make you an informed citizen. So if you passively consume news and do not actively seek information, you will be ill-informed.