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I think there's a distinction to be made between different scales of media. I find my local news sources fairly reliable and trustworthy; if they say some new s

I think there's a distinction to be made between different scales of media. I find my local news sources fairly reliable and trustworthy; if they say some new statewide laws are coming into effect or that there's a big traffic jam due to a water main break, that's something you can hang your hat on. National-level news, however, is a steaming pile of poo. There's always a juicy story happening somewhere, and national outlets lean heavily into superficial entertainment/shock value instead of "boring but very relevant" kinds of coverage you'd find locally. You can see this on cable news where they parade nutjobs in front of cameras from places that don't matter to most Americans. Why is it so important for non-leadership House reps from local districts in Georgia or New York to regularly have a national audience?

hayst4ck 2y ago
I've watched a fair amount of local news, and I don't trust TV news at all. The local TV news is nearly completely sanitized against anything that threatens anyone in power and anything that makes anyone think a little. A major portion of the news every night is a "superficial entertainment/shock value" covering of all the petty crimes and murders that happened. The point of news is to threaten or speak truth to power. It's to report when people are using their power for their own self interest at the cost of others. It's to inform us of the things we should know about so we can potentially take action or make informed political decisions. The most powerful person in America throwing a Sieg Heil should have been the fore front of every major media platform, but it wasn't. Later, at least 4 prominent people in that person's party threw Sieg Heil's and there was more silence. Stories around immigration are covered over stories about the hollowing out of social services or compromise of positions of enforcement which is a prelude to breaking the law. The legal system is being dismantled, but immigrants are the main focus of the story... Reddit is an absolutely low bar, but frankly, a person who consumes the default Reddit front page and their local subreddit is much more informed with facts about what matters than a person who consumes local (tv) news. Sinclair, Tegna, or other major companies own many stations, and if they own a station, you are getting oligarch news, you aren't going to get news that challenges oligarchic power. Immigrants fundamentally empower oligarchs. In the good times they aren't able to practice solidarity (which is why they left their country to begin with), which helps them suppress the costs of labor. In the bad times they are a scapegoat, to both distract from narratives that might harm them, and as a target to point a finger at so angry mobs chase the immigrants, rather than the oligarchs who stole their wealth. Modern news in almost all forms serves power rather than challenges it.

hayst4ck 2y ago

I've watched a fair amount of local news, and I don't trust TV news at all. The local TV news is nearly completely sanitized against anything that threatens anyone in power and anything that makes anyone think a little. A major portion of the news every night is a "superficial entertainment/shock value" covering of all the petty crimes and murders that happened. The point of news is to threaten or speak truth to power. It's to report when people are using their power for their own self interest at the cost of others. It's to inform us of the things we should know about so we can potentially take action or make informed political decisions. The most powerful person in America throwing a Sieg Heil should have been the fore front of every major media platform, but it wasn't. Later, at least 4 prominent people in that person's party threw Sieg Heil's and there was more silence. Stories around immigration are covered over stories about the hollowing out of social services or compromise of positions of enforcement which is a prelude to breaking the law. The legal system is being dismantled, but immigrants are the main focus of the story... Reddit is an absolutely low bar, but frankly, a person who consumes the default Reddit front page and their local subreddit is much more informed with facts about what matters than a person who consumes local (tv) news. Sinclair, Tegna, or other major companies own many stations, and if they own a station, you are getting oligarch news, you aren't going to get news that challenges oligarchic power. Immigrants fundamentally empower oligarchs. In the good times they aren't able to practice solidarity (which is why they left their country to begin with), which helps them suppress the costs of labor. In the bad times they are a scapegoat, to both distract from narratives that might harm them, and as a target to point a finger at so angry mobs chase the immigrants, rather than the oligarchs who stole their wealth. Modern news in almost all forms serves power rather than challenges it.