Taking a cue from some long extinguished cop shows: "copy that." Trust begins at home: your gut is a good place to start at. Apologies to Latinists who hate ending sentences with prepositions. Churchill said something making fun of that, saying: "That is something up with which I will not put." Facts, fun and food. An excellent trio, alliterative to!
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.
Love this comment, Tom…glad to know an actually educated man (I’m just a layman) feels similarly. Like you, I also have a background in marketing, so I am more conscious when it’s more marketing than news. Let’s keep questioning what media we choose to digest.
Thanks Clint. I tend to go off on this topic. News has devolved into entertainment. And the fact that most of my fellow human beings are okay with this is greatly upsetting.
I will occasionally watch shows on PBS, but don't follow their news. BBC has its own agendas which may be hard for US-ians to discern. Even my favorite commentors either bury the lede and lose me in a few minutes or are so biased that I'm not sure what they're reporting at times. Even people who attempt objectivity or members of former Presidential administrations have huge blind spots. Lately, if an item of news doesn't affect me directly (weather, local taxes) or I have little to no agency (pace George Carlin) I attend for a moment and move on. One feels diminished, but it's not something I've found a solution to. Thanks for leading us to your favorite's commentating. Whatever else he's doggoned likeable! My solution? I watch homesteading and farming shows, listen to All of Bach and lots of musical stuff. Pity they're Russian, but I just love Ottava Yo that I discovered somehow.
Love me some George Carlin! Wonder what HE would say about how stupid things have gotten. As for blind spots, we've all got em, but denying they exist is ridiculous. I only share folks I think are decent human beings and entertaining. I could be wrong, but I trust my gut. It's usually hungry...for facts and fun. And food of course. lol
Oh Clint your comment so reflects mine too. Like you I have given up on most commercial news channels. It's the old hot potato of AI being distorted as real information. Of course it's all too real for internet keyboard warriors ready to start Armageddon just for the 👍likes. My YT feeds are getting ridiculous and all the recent civil unrest in the UK is just spawning more rhetoric and misinformation. My only source of 'genuine' news comes from the BBC which is independent as it's funded by license fees from the population. The alternative news provider is the ITV but as it's commercial funded from advertising etc the presenting style is very theatrical. Not what I want for serious newscasting. Now from YT I'm careful at what I watch as it feeds the algorithms. It's a complicated subject and I could be on here for pages of rants 😎 so I won't go down that route. Cheers DougT 🇫🇴
You're fortunate to have a relatively independent source. What I've seen of BBC is pretty solid in my book. It's impossible not to fall for some of the fuckery, but even being aware that it's going on is ahead of the curve of most. Cheers!
About watching "the news", if you ever have a free moment, read my very, very short essay titled The Rebels in my substack.
Thanks, D.C.!
Taking a cue from some long extinguished cop shows: "copy that." Trust begins at home: your gut is a good place to start at. Apologies to Latinists who hate ending sentences with prepositions. Churchill said something making fun of that, saying: "That is something up with which I will not put." Facts, fun and food. An excellent trio, alliterative to!
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.
Love this comment, Tom…glad to know an actually educated man (I’m just a layman) feels similarly. Like you, I also have a background in marketing, so I am more conscious when it’s more marketing than news. Let’s keep questioning what media we choose to digest.
Thanks Clint. I tend to go off on this topic. News has devolved into entertainment. And the fact that most of my fellow human beings are okay with this is greatly upsetting.
I will occasionally watch shows on PBS, but don't follow their news. BBC has its own agendas which may be hard for US-ians to discern. Even my favorite commentors either bury the lede and lose me in a few minutes or are so biased that I'm not sure what they're reporting at times. Even people who attempt objectivity or members of former Presidential administrations have huge blind spots. Lately, if an item of news doesn't affect me directly (weather, local taxes) or I have little to no agency (pace George Carlin) I attend for a moment and move on. One feels diminished, but it's not something I've found a solution to. Thanks for leading us to your favorite's commentating. Whatever else he's doggoned likeable! My solution? I watch homesteading and farming shows, listen to All of Bach and lots of musical stuff. Pity they're Russian, but I just love Ottava Yo that I discovered somehow.
Love me some George Carlin! Wonder what HE would say about how stupid things have gotten. As for blind spots, we've all got em, but denying they exist is ridiculous. I only share folks I think are decent human beings and entertaining. I could be wrong, but I trust my gut. It's usually hungry...for facts and fun. And food of course. lol
Oh Clint your comment so reflects mine too. Like you I have given up on most commercial news channels. It's the old hot potato of AI being distorted as real information. Of course it's all too real for internet keyboard warriors ready to start Armageddon just for the 👍likes. My YT feeds are getting ridiculous and all the recent civil unrest in the UK is just spawning more rhetoric and misinformation. My only source of 'genuine' news comes from the BBC which is independent as it's funded by license fees from the population. The alternative news provider is the ITV but as it's commercial funded from advertising etc the presenting style is very theatrical. Not what I want for serious newscasting. Now from YT I'm careful at what I watch as it feeds the algorithms. It's a complicated subject and I could be on here for pages of rants 😎 so I won't go down that route. Cheers DougT 🇫🇴
You're fortunate to have a relatively independent source. What I've seen of BBC is pretty solid in my book. It's impossible not to fall for some of the fuckery, but even being aware that it's going on is ahead of the curve of most. Cheers!