4 ms·

Sharp decline in appetite for news in recent years, Reuters Institute says

4 points by iamflimflam1 3y ago

iamflimflam1 3y ago
“The most important social media platform for news is still Facebook” - that’s pretty terrifying!
dotcoma 3y ago
That’s good news! https://thecorrespondent.com/228/podcast-can-you-quit-the-news-and-still-change-the-world https://thecorrespondent.com/228/podcast-can-you-quit-the-ne...
senttoschool 3y ago
Governments keep going after big tech, trying to break them up and limiting their power. But in my opinion, the bigger issue in society is that a significant portion of the mainstream media is owned by Rupert Murdoch, which means he can alone can push any agenda he wants. In Australia, Murdoch bullied politicians into forcing FB/Google to pay for news or the media will paint the candidate poorly, which means the candidate likely won't win any future elections. They can make you pro-war. They can make you hate entire countries, even though those countries never did anything to you and people in any country are just trying to better their lives just like you. They can make you vote against yourself. In any democracy, it only works for the people if the people can receive unbiased, truthful information.
- jacknobody 3y ago
  Thank you, senttoschool. I think you have more cynicism to develop. I would like to help you with that. Which democracies have consistently succeeded, please? ... and whence this astoundingly unbiased, truthful information? Big tech are the new bosses, supplanting human interaction with their measuring and calculating robotic brains; sociopaths have always ruled the world. Doesn't anybody have any idea at all?
  - senttoschool 3y ago
    Since you used ad hominem, I will too. Seems like you're Australian? I think you've drank the anti-big tech propaganda given the stronghold that Rupert Murdoch has in the Australian media. You should ask your politicians to boot Rupert Murdoch out, decentralize mainstream news in Australia, and teach media literacy.
beardyw 3y ago
I stopped watching news because instead of reporting it is padded out with unhelpful discussions/arguments and "man in the street" opinions. I read the news online and only focus on stuff that's new. Perhaps others don't even do that. I think news has been killed by the need to fill space.
mytailorisrich 3y ago
I think this can also be seen in what is reported on news channels and news programmes, which surely adapt to what they think people want to watch. Even on BBC News (since link is to BBC) news are very surperficial and there are only a few programmes that try to look deeper at the big issues, and some topics are pretty much skipped altogether (finance and markets? Nah) Interestingly, I thought that RT News (before it was banned...) was still more real, interesting news even though you had to stay on your toes re. propaganda.

4 points by iamflimflam1 3y ago

“The most important social media platform for news is still Facebook” - that’s pretty terrifying!

That’s good news! https://thecorrespondent.com/228/podcast-can-you-quit-the-news-and-still-change-the-world https://thecorrespondent.com/228/podcast-can-you-quit-the-ne...

senttoschool 3y ago

Governments keep going after big tech, trying to break them up and limiting their power. But in my opinion, the bigger issue in society is that a significant portion of the mainstream media is owned by Rupert Murdoch, which means he can alone can push any agenda he wants. In Australia, Murdoch bullied politicians into forcing FB/Google to pay for news or the media will paint the candidate poorly, which means the candidate likely won't win any future elections. They can make you pro-war. They can make you hate entire countries, even though those countries never did anything to you and people in any country are just trying to better their lives just like you. They can make you vote against yourself. In any democracy, it only works for the people if the people can receive unbiased, truthful information.

jacknobody 3y ago
Thank you, senttoschool. I think you have more cynicism to develop. I would like to help you with that. Which democracies have consistently succeeded, please? ... and whence this astoundingly unbiased, truthful information? Big tech are the new bosses, supplanting human interaction with their measuring and calculating robotic brains; sociopaths have always ruled the world. Doesn't anybody have any idea at all?
- senttoschool 3y ago
  Since you used ad hominem, I will too. Seems like you're Australian? I think you've drank the anti-big tech propaganda given the stronghold that Rupert Murdoch has in the Australian media. You should ask your politicians to boot Rupert Murdoch out, decentralize mainstream news in Australia, and teach media literacy.

beardyw 3y ago

I stopped watching news because instead of reporting it is padded out with unhelpful discussions/arguments and "man in the street" opinions. I read the news online and only focus on stuff that's new. Perhaps others don't even do that. I think news has been killed by the need to fill space.

mytailorisrich 3y ago

I think this can also be seen in what is reported on news channels and news programmes, which surely adapt to what they think people want to watch. Even on BBC News (since link is to BBC) news are very surperficial and there are only a few programmes that try to look deeper at the big issues, and some topics are pretty much skipped altogether (finance and markets? Nah) Interestingly, I thought that RT News (before it was banned...) was still more real, interesting news even though you had to stay on your toes re. propaganda.