
Confession: I gave up reading and watching the news daily around 2016. I check in a few times a week, but paying too much attention to the headlines tends to break my heartā¦and my mind.
Based on my limited media diet, usually filtered through social media and/or YouTube, what passes for ājournalismā these days truly disgusts me. So I (mostly) opt out.
The truth is, legacy media outlets are struggling to survive around the world. What was once a (mostly) trusted profession, bound by principles like fairness, accuracy, and accountability, now seems increasingly influenced by clicks, sensationalism, and political agendas. I know thatās an over-generalization, but spreading lies and stoking discord has ever been easier. Or more common.
Itās disheartening but also not surprising. Anyone with an internet connection can be an āindependent journalistā these days. Most of us at least curate our own newsfeed. Or ask Google News to do it for us. Replacing countless āold-schoolā journalists and news reporters. Remember those? Simpler, if not more fact-based, times for sure.
So weāre all part of the problem.
In my opinion, weāre all also part of the solution.
Time after time, broadcasters and publishersābig and smallāhave shown theyāre more concerned with their bottom line than reporting the facts. I fully understand news is (big) business. No longer funded by the classified pages, some legacy and new media companies have pivoted away from reporting the ānewsā to spreading misinformation and propagandaā¦for the highest bidder:
HOW RUSSIAN OPERATIVES COVERTLY HIRED U.S. INFLUENCERS TO CREATE VIRAL VIDEOS (NPR)
WHAT RIGHT-WING INFLUENCERS ACTUALLY SAID IN THOSE TENET MEDIA VIDEOS (Wired)
While Iām no fan of Tim Pool or the gaggle of grifters that make up Tenet Media, they are far from the only group of willful/willing idiots doing their best to pass "hot takesā off as ānews.ā The struggle against misinformation is real.
Whatever the story, depending on what you read or watch, youāll see a different version of it. This, in my opinion, isnāt due to actual reportingā¦itās due to each outlet vying for attention and allegiance. So many headlines are pure clickbait. More and more articles and ānewsā reports feel more like propaganda than reliable reporting.
Itās a messāone that leaves viewers either 1) confused, 2) more entrenched in their existing beliefs, or 3) tuning out. Itās like too few have heard of the Dunning-Kruger effect. Or if they have they donāt seem to understand that it applies to everyone.
My recommendation: Letās all check ourselves (and fact-check our sources) before we wreck ourselves (and our world).
Whatās desperately needed is better media literacy and education to help people recognize the signs of propaganda. Whether you call it manipulation or marketing, itās important to understand how mass media narratives are designed to provoke division and reactionā¦and in the name of āengagement.ā
Being able to critically assess what we seeārather than accepting it at face valueācan help us navigate this chaos. By questioning, investigating, and cross-referencing stories, weāre in a better position to make informed decisions rather than fall prey to carefully-crafted corporate and political messages.
To me, navigating the 24/7 media circus is like stepping into a hall of (un)funhouse mirrors, where every reflection is distorted and warped.
What you see is not what you get at these media circus. So I choose my trips very, very carefully. And I do do my best to remember most of the show is just smoke and mirrors, intended to keep the audiences entertained and entranced so much they canāt/wonāt go outside and see whatās really going on for themselves.
Thanks for reading!
Clint

ON YOUTUBE = FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
While I donāt watch the ānews,ā I do watch a lot of videos by commentary creators. One of my favorites is DāAngelo Wallace. His sassy-smart opinions and style may not be for everyone, but heās one of my favorites. (Main Channel + Side Channel)
ON THIS DAY = SEPTEMBER 7
BIRTHDAYS
GRANDMA MOSES (1860)
ArtistELIA KAZAN (1909)
Director + Writer + ActorBUDDY HOLLY (1936)
Singer-SongwriterCHRISSIE HYNDE (1951)
Singer-SongwriterEAZY-E (1964)
RapperRUDY GALINDO (1969)
Figure Skater
LESLIE JONES (1967)
Comedian + Actor
EVENTS
Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles marry. (1943)
Note: The couple divorice in 1947.At the 32nd Primetime Emmy Awards, Taxi, Lou Grant, Ed Asner, and Barbara Bel Geddes win. The event is notable for proceeding despite 51 of the 52 nominated performers boycotting the event due to the Screen Actors Guild strike. (1980)
Larry Kramer and two friends put up a banner at the Fire Island dock that read āGive to Gay Cancer.ā They raised only $124. Kramer is an American playwright, author, public health advocate, and LGBT rights activist. He began his career rewriting scripts while working for Columbia Pictures, which led him to London where he worked with United Artists. There he wrote the screenplay for the 1969 film Women in Love and earned an Academy Award nomination for his work. Kramer introduced a controversial and confrontational style in his novel Faggots which earned mixed reviews and emphatic denunciations from some in the gay community for Kramerās one-sided portrayal of shallow, promiscuous gay relationships in the 1970s. Kramer witnessed the spread of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) among his friends in 1980. He co-founded the Gay Menās Health Crisis (GMHC) which has become the worldās largest private organization assisting people living with AIDS. Kramer grew frustrated with bureaucratic paralysis and the apathy of gay men to the AIDS crisis and wished to engage in further action than the social services GMHC provided. He expressed his frustration by writing a play titled The Normal Heart, produced at The Public Theater in New York City in 1985. His political activism continued with the founding of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) in 1987, an influential direct action protest organization with the aim of gaining more public action to fight the AIDS crisis.
Bad, Michael Jacksonās seventh solo studio album, is released. (1987)
Tupac Shakur is shot multiple times in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas and dies 6 days later. (1996)
The worldās first 24-hour LGBT TV network called PrideVision TV is launched in Canada. It is now called OutTV. Owned by Headline Media Group, it was Canadaās first 24-hour cable television channel targeted at LGBT audiences. It was also the second LGBT-focused channel to be established in the world after the Gay Cable Network in the U.S. which shut down in 2001. (2001)
True Blood premieres on HBO. (2008)
ON SUBSTACK = NEW + FEATURED
MORE FROM COLLIDE PRESS
Ko-Fi + Linktree + Shop + Storefront + YouTube
Amen to all of this. Being an informed citizen today takes a lot of work. When I say I look at the news that's about it--a quick scan of headlines of various newspapers (usually found on Refdesk.com) and then I feel I like I kind of sort of "know" what is going on. Maybe. I rarely read an entire article though. There always seems to be an agenda.
I am a trained historian and have always been a big reader. So searching out facts and reality is fun for me but in the end you can still come up short. Like they say: "History is written by the winners." P.S. Much of my career has also been in marketing so I know how the game is played
More than anything I get tired of the over produced "news" shows with beautiful presenters in expensive clothes and hair and makeup. And sets that look like an over-the-top rock concert is taking place. I agree with Mr Thompson's opinion of the BBC though
In the end I feel I am supposed to be an educated person but question it.
About watching "the news", if you ever have a free moment, read my very, very short essay titled The Rebels in my substack.