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Wie geht's?
Seth Godin made some good points and poses some great questions in a recent post on watching the news:
The gulf between network news of 1968 and cable news of today is dramatic, far more than the shift in, say, a typical sitcom. The Dick Van Dyke Show is quaint, but it has a lot in common with a sitcom of today. The news, on the other hand, is completely different.
A generation ago, delivering the news was a civic duty. Now it’s a profit center.
The quick edits, the crawling text, the noise–it all exists to remind us of a thrilling movie, not of real life.
And the clickbaiting reality of online news multiplies that.
But real life isn’t like that. An actual house-fire or street demonstration is boring compared to what we’re shown in the media.
Does the increase in drama, tension and fear that these production values create produce anything of value?
Would it be possible to be an informed citizen without it?
Even more so: Is it possible to be an informed citizen with it?
Currently, Jacky and I tend to watch the nightly 6pm TV One news show (it is a show). Over the years I've stopped watching news from time to time.
Last week the network news featured a story on floods in Melbourne, where Adam and Ashleigh live. Via our family chat, I asked him if they were okay and he said, "Sure - the news will have made it sound worse than it was".
No doubt there were a lot of people affected by the storm damage and flooding but the news report - compressed into less than a minute with emotional voice overs and rapid editing, made it seen much more widespread and dramatic. Then it was off to the next 'story'.
So to answer Seth's last three questions: not often; yes; maybe.
It feels like time to start avoiding watching news broadcasts again.
Love and peace - Wozza
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