"Oh I never watch the news"

[oklumberjack]

Ok, I feeling really judgemental about this I'll admit, but here goes.

I went out for dinner this week with some school mum's from the primary my dd has just left. These women are acquaintances of mine. Nice women, friendly but I don't consider them my closest friends.

Over the course of lunch, we were discussing our summer etc. I mentioned the Olympics and something about Theresa May. They all looked blankly at me. All 5 of them said they hadn't seen any Olympics and had no idea how we'd done. 3 of them had not even heard of Theresa May. The conversation then got on to how they never watch the news, or read a newspaper or even access it online. As soon as news comes on they turn over. I was shocked. I kept very quiet that I'm a Radio 4 and 5live listener, avid Daily Politics watcher and rather enjoyed watching the cycling,rowing and diving at the Olympics on the BBC.

However they could tell me all about Love Island, Big Brother and TOWIE which is where the conversation went next. I felt really out of place. They seemed to think that being interested in the news made you some kind of snob.

Ok, so we're out of step in what we like. We probably won't hang out much in the future, however please tell me I'm not really unusual in checking in with the news at least twice a day!

FB. A friend or two usually posts them up

So you depend on family and friends to keep you informed?

On a wider note, with so much "news" surrounding us, it has become pathetically easy for it to be manipulated.

Never has "good day to bury bad news" been so true.

Like almost everything else in universe (except human stupidity ) there's a finite limit to how much you can fit into anything.

If you fill the news with details of this years strictly, who's **ing who on TOWIE, and what shoes the PM might wear to this years conference, you are removing space that could go to other things.

Depressingly, this isn't a new phenomenon. Old-timer newspaper editors used the phrase "below the fold" which was where they could hide news they didn't want discussion about. Nowdays, it's not so much below the fold, as below the fold, out the door, and halfway to the next town.

How many people here aggregate their news ? And if you do, do you notice themes about what doesn't get reported where ?

Is there a case to made for the assertion that the internet has democractised ignorance, rather than educated the masses ?

I don't depend on them

If it was that important, i would see it sooner rather than later

You could argue that avoiding all news leaves you less ignorant than relying on The Fail as your sole source.

It goes deeper than that, for me. By choosing not to be informed, it implies a complete lack of awareness as to how the actions of the PM, Government, local council or even the Governors of your DC's school affect you.

This is what I don't understand. Everyone I know knows who the PM is. Everyone I know knows what Brexit is. They might not understand the ins and outs, or be particularly interested in it, but they do have some awareness about what's generally going on and whether they're happy about it or not.

But to not even know who the prime minister is or the result of the Brexit vote you must make a concious effort to be uninformed. When there's an election or a referendum there is information about it everywhere. Social media, posters, leaflets - then when it comes to the results, again it's all over social media, it's discussed on lots of programmes that aren't even associated with political news such as celeb chat shows, you can stand at a bus stop and hear people talking about it, you can walk past a newsagents and see the headlines about it. You could scroll past the headline on Facebook and find out without even reading the article. It's hard to actually avoid hearing or seeing 'Teresa May is the new PM' unless you cover your eyes when you see a newspaper and put your fingers in you ears and shout 'LALALALALALA' when someone mentions the word 'election'

What about things like product recalls? Public health notifications? Local emergency service request for people to stay inside due to fumes from a fire, for instance? Amber alerts for missing children? Requests for witnesses to an incident to come forward? Closure of a shopping centre or attraction due to a power failure?

These things sometimes appear in the news but not always NNChangeAgain. When they do they are not always reported in a helpful way. People often get more relevant information about things that will affect them by talking to their friends and neighbours or simply by turning up to the station and finding out the trains aren't running.

News reporting is not a public information service.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=93FB_UjuyLM

Really good John Oliver piece on newspapers. It's about the US print media but how content is now determined applies to all news.

Popping my mumsnet cherry here, exciting stuff!
We used to watch the news religiously, every night at 7 on Channel 4. We used to read the papers on a Sunday occasional too.
However after a while we just stopped. Not sure why, perhaps it was DS1 who took up so much of our time that we wasn't able to get in front of the tv by 7 anymore but it eventually dried up.
Funnily enough though looking back now I am so glad because my attitudes have changed drastically. Back then, I would often post things on FB which now make me feel a bit sick at my attitude, typical Daily Mail rhetoric which makes me super ashamed of myself. My attitudes have become incredibly more left wing and liberal over the last 7 or so years and I put that down a lot to not being spoon fed an agenda by certain media outlets.
I do follow several news channels on Facebook and so I am still very up to date about the world and current affairs. We talk about politics a lot at home with the kids, 12 and 6, and believe it's important to keep them up to date too because it affects us all!
However my husband sometimes tells me not to look at things because they upset me too much, especially the current problems in Syria and it affects me massively.

I can't for one moment though imagine being at the level of not knowing what is going on in the world, but as someone who doesn't have a tv licence because we don't watch soaps and football and hate reality tv, I am well versed in what it feels like to be some sort of social pariah because we don't watch TOWIE and such (and I bloody live in Essex!)
For a lot of people though, that's all they care about. The worlds of politics are very far away and as such, they have no interest. Sad really.

Oh God, OP, imagine if you'd mentioned the First Minister for Scotland to them!

"Scotland....has ministers??! OMG it is so FUNNY how into all this shit you are!"

I don't depend on them

If it was that important, i would see it sooner rather than later

When it comes to the country, the laws, the government, the decisions made by the party in power which will inevitably effect you and your family in some way, is there anything more important than elections and referendums?

I wonder how people who never watch the news actually manage to function

When I said this I meant to refer to people who deliberately avoid the news to the extent that they don't know who the Prime Minister is and know nothing about Brexit. There comes a point when surely you might wonder why your tax has gone up or your benefits have disappeared, and might think it would have been helpful to know at an earlier stage when you could have had some influence on the relevant decisions.

I'm gobsmacked someone doesn't know who the prime minister is. My nine year old knows and not much penetrates his brain except Lego and Star Wars

not much penetrates his brain except Lego

Sounds painful!

My sister is like this. She is 38. I know for a fact she won't have heard of Theresa May or even which government is in power. She never watches the news or reads about it and she has never read a book in her life. She is completely ignorant about what is going on in the world. Don't worry, she'd never vote in an election. I'm the complete opposite. Love politics and knowing whats going on in the world but I do also like reality tv. Love my Made In Chelsea, X Factor etc.

Incidentally, commenting on the ignorance of others is hardly new. There was a story (which annoyingly Google refuses to serve a decent cite for) about a peasant - who when warned that a battle was about to be fought at Marston Moor (English Civil War) - expressed surprised there was a war on.

Panem et circii ?

7:26 - 9:06 on that video link sums up the issues. Puppies get clicks, hard news doesn't. We've been lucky because of the BBC but it's already gone through huge cutbacks in online news services. Things will get worse.

I'm not sure if anyone else has said this (only skim reading the thread) but StarryIllusion, Theresa May is not acting PM, she is PM.

I am horrified that grown people don't know who the PM is. It is one of the questions doctors will ask you to determine if you have the beginnings of dementia or not, so I think it is rather assumed any adult without mental degeneration would know the answer.

News reporting is not a public information service.

It has become so. Police and emergency services regularly use the media to distribute messages and appeals - and even call press conferences as part of their investigation technique.

Amber Alerts are designed to do exactly that - alert the public, via news outlets, of suspected abductions rapidly, in order to maximise the chance of retrieving a victim alive.

At the bottom of the "Official Notices" page of my local paper last week, printed in large, bold print were the words "Take notice it could affect YOU! TAKE NOTE OF PUBLIC NOTICES".

Police and emergency services regularly use the media to distribute messages and appeals

and advance a political agenda

What about things like product recalls? Public health notifications? Local emergency service request for people to stay inside due to fumes from a fire, for instance? Amber alerts for missing children? Requests for witnesses to an incident to come forward? Closure of a shopping centre or attraction due to a power failure?

I'm contentedly ignorant of all the aforementioned.

My favourite news source remains the NY Times online. For me, it's a good balance of serious and fluff and most of the articles are well or even beautifully written.

I didn't watch the Olympics and I don't watch the news. I'm kept more or less up to date by "trending" topics and things that pop up on social media.

I don't watch reality TV though so I'm somewhere in between the women and the OP

Just out of interest, was everyone reading this thread aware of the changes to the TV license today ?

On of those that were, how many of your friends are ?

Ignorance is all very well, but - as the saying goes - is no defence against the law. (I await the first wag to say they didn't know that)

I will make myself aware of the changes when my TV license is up for renewal. I have no idea when that is.

NotMe There comes a point when surely you might wonder why your tax has gone up or your benefits have disappeared, and might think it would have been helpful to know at an earlier stage when you could have had some influence on the relevant decisions.

I must admit I've been surprised how many people affected by benefit changes had no idea they were happening. Due to health issues I've been on and off benefits and so kept myself informed to avoid any nasty shocks. However, I suppose there's the feeling of powerlessness to change things. I protested during the "occupy" protests 5 years ago, and was amazed how many people stopped by to give messages of support, and yet would never have thought of protesting themselves. Also people wanting to give money because that's what they're used to dealing with, and yet a swell of human beings taking to the streets would have been more powerful.

Also, being asked who the PM is is one of the mental health assessment questions. Perhaps they'll have to ask what's the latest TOWIE update or something!

My 3 year old daughter knows who Theresa May is. I can't understand how a grown adult has less knowledge about who runs their country than a preschooler.