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All the News That is Fit to Print?
Feb. 22nd, 2014 09:17 amBill Maher on his show last night made an interesting observation about how we get our news and how we don’t get our news. You can an article about the piece along with the relevant video here.
He points out that people getting their news cater to them without all the stuff they don’t want to read about is a dangerous thing.
When one had to read a newspaper or watch a newscast for news, one got both stuff they were interested in and things that they might not be interested in but needed to know.
Recently there have been violent clashes in the Ukraine over the government. People have died and places have been burned. The pictures are very striking. But did you know that people are dying in Venezuela over clashes between pro and anti government groups? And that these clashes are getting worse and more bloody each day? I found out because I read a couple of European news feeds. I was hard pressed to find it in the newspapers of the US.
I have a subscription to the New York Times digital edition. In the evening I sit down and read various articles and see what people are e-mailing to each other that day. I also go through the BBC news feed along with several others all over the globe to get both a better idea of what is going on in the world and to see how others view the United States. Reading Olympic coverage from other countries is interesting to see what is important to that country besides the medal count.
And we wonder how people can believe things when the Internet has created the perfect way to feed people only what they want to hear and see rather than what is going on in the world. It gives me some serious Orwellian shivers.
The news should be the news not just the news one wants to hear/see/read. What is going on in one’s town, state, country, world should be known not ignored or skipped over. We need to recognize was is going on in the world around us or when we look up from our electronic devices, we aren’t going to recognize it or we are going to wonder how it got to this point because we didn’t know about it.
I want to know what is going on in my backyard and in my state and in my country and in the World. I want to know the good, the bad, and the ugly. I want to be an informed citizen. I am hoping that others feel the same.
I am grateful for information that informs me.
He points out that people getting their news cater to them without all the stuff they don’t want to read about is a dangerous thing.
When one had to read a newspaper or watch a newscast for news, one got both stuff they were interested in and things that they might not be interested in but needed to know.
Recently there have been violent clashes in the Ukraine over the government. People have died and places have been burned. The pictures are very striking. But did you know that people are dying in Venezuela over clashes between pro and anti government groups? And that these clashes are getting worse and more bloody each day? I found out because I read a couple of European news feeds. I was hard pressed to find it in the newspapers of the US.
I have a subscription to the New York Times digital edition. In the evening I sit down and read various articles and see what people are e-mailing to each other that day. I also go through the BBC news feed along with several others all over the globe to get both a better idea of what is going on in the world and to see how others view the United States. Reading Olympic coverage from other countries is interesting to see what is important to that country besides the medal count.
And we wonder how people can believe things when the Internet has created the perfect way to feed people only what they want to hear and see rather than what is going on in the world. It gives me some serious Orwellian shivers.
The news should be the news not just the news one wants to hear/see/read. What is going on in one’s town, state, country, world should be known not ignored or skipped over. We need to recognize was is going on in the world around us or when we look up from our electronic devices, we aren’t going to recognize it or we are going to wonder how it got to this point because we didn’t know about it.
I want to know what is going on in my backyard and in my state and in my country and in the World. I want to know the good, the bad, and the ugly. I want to be an informed citizen. I am hoping that others feel the same.
I am grateful for information that informs me.
