Why aren’t news programmes seen as what they are - programmes?

[ilikeice]

They report the news to suit their own agendas. Leaving out info, adding info in,
They are all politically linked, bbc, itv and channel 4 respectively.
They feed what the government instructs them to.
Why aren’t we seeing them for what they are - tv shows.
I have stopped watching the news and listening to it for around 18 months as it instilled unnecessary fear into people, makes them aware of tragedies that perhaps they didn’t need to know about causing unconscious and conscious stress.
The media is an absolute cancer.
I’m just sick of everyone around me relying on these biased news programmes, using them as gospel and not using their own minds.
I’m not sure what I’m trying to convey but hopefully someone more literate can explain (if it even makes sense)
Too much trust and reliance is on the news programmes.

makes them aware of tragedies that perhaps they didn’t need to know about causing unconscious and conscious stress.

Are you suggesting news broadcasters censure some topics because it might be too upsetting?

Not sure what your point is? Do you think that the government tells the difference channels what to report?
What if people want to know what’s going on in the world? There’s no such thing as an absolutely unbiased news source.

I’m just sick of everyone around me relying on these biased news programmes, using them as gospel and not using their own minds.

This would be the main issue, not a news program in itself.

I am capable of watching biased media content and then using my brain to decide if it's something worth getting worried/hysterical about, or not.

People don't need protecting from the media. They simply need to use their brains.

I get what you mean.

It’s basically “here are all the bad things that happened today, starting with the most shocking”

They have slots to fill so there’s never a day when it’s “no news today, nothing to get up in arms about, get on with your lives happily”

But when there’s “breaking news” they will repeat the same information over and over all day long, even when there’s nothing to say about it yet and just have some reporters standing in relevant locations just in case.

The “duty to report what’s happening to the public” is tarred with the need for revenue.

It’s terrible for our mental health. The most informed are the most serious, anxious and depressed. It’s just “things are bad, things are getting worse, people are bad..”

Where is the good news?

I’m just sick of everyone around me relying on these biased news programmes, using them as gospel and not using their own minds.

People shouldn’t take it as gospel and should get news from a variety of sources yes. But you said you stopped watching the news, do you read papers (either online or print)? How do you find out news?

I know someone who doesn’t watch the news because it “only tells us what they want us to hear” so she gets her news from Instagram. Where apparently there is no bias at all in anything

‘The media is an absolute cancer’

Get a bloody hold of yourself.

How do you think government corruption would be expensed without journalists? Who’s going to cover important court cases? Spend hours reading through accounts to expose dodgy business dealings?

There’s a bigger plurality in news than there’s ever been.
If you think that the government tell journalists what to publish then how do you explain the clear difference between the stories in The Guardian and The Express, or on GB News and Channel 4 News? How do you expect the government contacts all 70,000 journalists in this country every day to ‘tell them what to publish’? I literally decide for myself what I’m going to write, go into the news conference where we talk about it to see if anyone else has anything to add, I write it and I send it live on the website. This is how many news outlets operate these days. I’ve never even spoken to the bloke who owns my newspaper group, never mind anyone from the government.

Honestly, apply some basic critical thinking. Read a variety of different news sources and maybe you’ll find something you like.

And as for ‘where is the good news’? It’s EVERYWHERE. People choose not to read it. If I (I’m a journalist) write a story about a murder then 20,000 people will read it. If I write about a little girl raising money for charity 200 people will read it. Page views are not the only factor in the news values employed in my newsroom (not by a long shot) but they’re important because that’s how we raise the revenue to get paid. And I’m sure you wouldn’t expect us to work for free?

I do believe that the news programmes you mention deliver high quality journalism, and I think that as long as you are aware of potential bias and you don't only get your news from one source there is no problem.

I get my news from a mixture of BBC, Channel 4, LBC as well as articles of interest from a range of newspapers, British and US.

I would never get my news from Facebook/ Twitter etc.

I’m just sick of everyone around me relying on these biased news programmes, using them as gospel and not using their own minds.

Problem is, everyone I hear saying something along these lines actually gets their news from conspiracy theory websites. I'll take a reputable news website over that any day.

I'd also rather use a website where I can choose which stories to hear more about, and which not.

How do you expect the government contacts all 70,000 journalists in this country every day to ‘tell them what to publish’? I literally decide for myself what I’m going to write, go into the news conference where we talk about it to see if anyone else has anything to add, I write it and I send it live on the website.

Totally agree, the government can’t coordinate themselves effectively how on earth anyone thinks they’ve got time/effort to control all angles of the media to do & say what they want is laughable.

Where do you get your news, OP? I have some sympathy with the view that consuming endless news can make you more stressed and unhappy, but a complete news blackout isn’t healthy, either, if you want to remain engaged with society.
Assuming that is the case, isn’t it better to be getting news from a respected mainstream broadcaster whose output is closely scrutinised than from random nutters on the Internet?

I don’t watch or read the news, I listen to the radio a lot which is bbc.
Im not saying the government directly infiltrate our news, but the big dogs at the top of each of these news corps are very influenced by persons in power and portray the news or decide what gets published.

I wouldn’t deny that the top people in news organisations set the general ethos of their companies, but I’ve never been told what stories to cover or not cover.

I had to give up news this Summer, I started suffering from anxiety and the news wasn't helping.

To keep informed I subscribed to The Week, which is a weekly news magazine that curates writing from across other newspapers and magazines. Each one covers the important issues from the last week.

I still find reading it sometimes stressful, for example I was in tears reading about the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. But that's the world, and I can't ignore it, and live in an ignorant bubble. It motivated me to donate to AfghanAid. Luckily, once I've read the magazine, it's done for the week - no doom scrolling like on the internet, or endlessly repeating themselves like on TV. Plus I've learnt lots of things that I wouldn't have known, trapped in my little bubble.

I can recommend it.

@ilikeice

I don’t watch or read the news, I listen to the radio a lot which is bbc. Im not saying the government directly infiltrate our news, but the big dogs at the top of each of these news corps are very influenced by persons in power and portray the news or decide what gets published.

Individual programmes within these organisations all have their own teams of journalists and editors, they set their own agendas, it’s not filtered down on a daily basis what the take is on each individual news item…

I think you are using a bit of a broad brush here.

“The media” covers a massive range of different sources of info these days, and I absolutely agree that people need to be able to exercise some critical thinking when deciding where they get their info. DH used to teach media studies and that was a major element - teaching students not to accept anything at face value, too question the motives behind any message being put to them etc.

I agree that the BBC tv news is really shallow these days, it’s a series of headlines with very little discussion or broader constrain of the issues which I find very frustrating. I prefer podcasts these days, and I do what I can to learn about the presenters and their likely bias or angles.