> So little of the news is actionable, as the article points out. The only remotely actionable news for me is what’s happening in my local community; but the gr

> So little of the news is actionable, as the article points out. The only remotely actionable news for me is what’s happening in my local community; but the gradual demise of our local newspaper has made that difficult to track. A hyper-focus on the national news also makes people feel like they're being a good citizen, while they completely ignore the things that actually make them a good citizen. I see it here all the time. People spend hours a week - often hours a day - following news about politicians they've already made their mind up about, or even politicians from other jurisdictions they'll never have a chance to vote for or against. Yet they spend almost no attention on local leaders, and keep voting back in the same group of people with poor track records who ignore constituents. It's not a simple difference of opinion about these people - I've had numerous conversations with the people around, and the vast majority of people don't know many of their local elected officials, and those they do know the name of they couldn't tell you anything about. Yet they could quickly tell you all the outrageous things a governor in another state did. Most national news is like junk food, where people feel like they're satiating themselves but they aren't getting any of the news they actually need.