To be sick of the news constantly bombarding us with gloom

[Viviennemary]

Yesterday it was school's falling to bits. That's been going on in minute detail for days. Switched on the BBC news. New doomsday scenario sewage in the rivers in great detail. STFU. Switched off.

I just don't watch the news.

I stopped watching during lockdown. The daily death toll was all they wanted to bombard us with. I read newspapers/online instead and don’t feel I’m missing anything.

Sign up for the Financial Times - a fact based paper
Avoid the screaming headline lot

It’s this government bombarding you with gloom - not ‘the news’.

It’s a very British (and American, too, I believe) thing. Going on holiday to the UK was a real shock in terms of doom and gloom news 24/7.

Fluffy bunny spotted in field, local woman stops to say awww...

BBC 6 o'clock news. More gloom. There's a surprise. Birmingham council has gone bust. Council leader is abroad. They spent £100m on a failed IT system. Now more sewage gloom. Switching off.

If the news itself IS gloom, then how do you expect them to report it exactly?

This is probably off topic, but I hate the way that sporting results now seem to dominate the news so much. I don't like most sports. I neither know nor care who won what. Years ago, there used to be a small section of the news given over to sport, now it seems to me that sport results are pretty central.

To add, the sport news always seem to have an assumption that you have been hysterically waiting to hear the results. NO.

I often wonder how nice it would have been to just have a newspaper delivered once a month, ironed by the butler, that reported each news item in a short article. So you felt informed but not bombarded.

Actually it’s the exact opposite of this.

It is a programming tool, and it doesn’t cover any news apart from that which the establishment want to feed us.

Throw out the TV and stop watching it. Your life will improve and you can stop paying the licence fee.

That’s what you need ;

I heard a psychologist on this and they said best bet a factual update once a week

There’s a lot of people invested in making consumers hooked on the news, it’s just more profit if they are

Please yourself. Why should anyone else care?

hysterically

Really?

Human brains are not programmed to receive bad news 24/7. Years ago you only read it in a newspaper maybe once that morning or heard it on the radio, then you went about your day. Now we have access to the news 24/7, on apps, podcasts, radio, TV, internet. It is relentless and our brains are not wired to cope.

I have removed myself from it massively, especially as bad news sells more than good news, I read the news headlines every few days and I stick to a news outlet which isn't going to USE CAPITAL LETTERS TO SCARE PEOPLE.

Because this is a forum to discuss ideas and opinions...

Hmmm that sounds like a healthy outlook…. Stick your fingers in your ears and go “la, la la can’t hear”.

These posts display a very poor understanding of the function of journalism. The news isn’t there to amuse or entertain you. It’s to provide an accurate reflection of the most important events and trends of the day.

We can talk about whether it performs that role properly (and God knows there’s loads wrong with our news media). But thinking the news should always have an upbeat message is ridiculous. That’s PR, not news.

One reason I enjoyed living in Copenhagen was that the news here in UK floated over me.

All the news is miserable, and that's why I don't always watch it. I occasionally do, but only perhaps twice a week.

People's contributions might be ideas and opinions. I don't feel that after the OP started the thread I feel particularly engaged with her update after the 6pm news.

That's my opinion, if that's OK with you.

Of course it’s healthy for me. I am a good judge of that. I don’t want it to be upbeat particularly, factual would be good a lot of it is using tone and wording to hook the viewer. I just know how to limit it so it works for me.

Far better than thinking the news is acting in any way other than to hook you on cycles, probably impacting some people’s mh in the process

It would take a lot of discipline to not know what’s going on at all - I’m on mn for a start and every major News announcement gets a thread pretty much. My phone also has a news section which I don’t read much but I will see headlines. Radio plus a lot with many updates, although I might choose to switch as it’s so much and again it’s used in a way to prompt response often an anxious one

But even if someone did choose to filter to a degree that they didn’t know much at all, that’s up to them. How is it up to you to say that’s wrong for them?

As for this thread it’s a good one. Always useful to discuss how the media works on people and why. Good to discuss with Dc how to interact with online generally too, including media

I doubt my understanding of journalism is that ‘poor’ I see tactics used to grab attention, they are well rehearsed by those who work in it

@StefanosHill

Far better than thinking the news is acting in any way other than to hook you on cycles, probably impacting some people’s mh in the process

News is (usually) a commercial product like any other (unless it’s from the BBC). It has to be engaging in order to persuade people to engage.

Clearly gorging on negative news for hours could have a damaging impact on people. Anyone can choose to dial back the amount of news they consume and that’s probably healthy.

But that’s a different point: the argument of the OP and others seems to be that news ought to be “happy” just to stop people being depressed. My point is if you want to be cheered up watch comedy gold or TikToks. The news is not a forum to make people feel better.

Actually I think it’s great people are questioning the negativity and methods the media use for news

Inflation going down is news, so are scientific breakthroughs for say diagnosing breast cancer, it’s not all bad

However Covid was pretty good for the media in that it learned just how much they could impact people with headlines

I’d say it’s good to think about why something is phrased a certain way and what emotional reaction it prompts. Why some numbers are used and what’s the context.

Think about whether you’d prefer to hear that information without those prompts

Because people are working hard to deliver it in a way that keeps your attention and makes you feel a certain way

There are many platforms vying for attention, there’s every good reason to understand why some keep you more hooked and whether that is a good thing for you.

I didn’t watch it but some found a recent programme on Netflix on methods used useful

On these kinds of threads I'm always fascinated by the terns used like "the news constantly bombarding us with gloom" as if the television news programme they chose to sit down to watch somehow forces itself upon them.

As if they themselves have no personal responsibility for switching on the tv, choosing the channel, and choosing to watch the same programme they publicly complained about yesterday.

The news isn't going to get any better for sometime.

Because the Tories have trashed our country.

Even once we get a new government it's going to take time for things to improve because the Tories and Brexit have screwed the economy and given lucrative contracts to all their mates so there's no money.

And we have to stem the ongoing and catastrophic Brexit damage by rejoining the EU which sadly is not a quick process.

if you want the news to be more cheerful then when you get the chance, 1. vote for the candidate who can win in your constituency who isn't a Tory or ex-Tory pretending to be an Independent, 2. Vote to rejoin the EU.

@verdantverdure those suggestions won't go down well with the OP. 😁