Years ago, if I wanted to watch an edgy movie – one that might seriously challenge my own view of the world, my own preconceived notions, I had to look pretty hard. We weren’t willing to pay for a fancy cable TV bundle, but when I was traveling for business the hotels would often offer Home Box Office (now rebranded as HBO) as the premium channel on the TV. The rest of the hotel TV choices would be the standard drivel, including such horrible channels as the Home Shopping Network or Home and Garden Television, and the fledgling Weather Channel. Initially the Weather Channel was useful, and I’d flip it on while getting dressed simply to find out whether my flight test might get rained out or blown out that day.
During that time period Bruce Springsteen had a great song with the refrain “57 channels and nothing on”. I think he captured my sentiment perfectly, as I was often tempted to shoot the TV out of frustration for the lack of decent entertainment, only I didn’t carry a gun. It’s really odd to watch a few minutes of The Weather Channel these days, as they’ve found a way to sensationalize reporting of the news and obviously want you to glue yourself to their drivel for a lot more than the 10 – 15 minutes I usually needed to get my own daily briefing.
Back when it was just broadcast TV the choices were only ABC, NBC, CBS and PBS, the Public Broadcasting System. The local news was a 30-minute segment beginning at 6 pm, and the 30-minute national/international news followed. The federal government leases the airwaves and at the time the networks didn’t attempt to profit off the evening news – rather it was considered a public service and they worked hard to have the best anchor and most interesting stories so we’d stay tuned to what came after the news, the “prime time” shows where they got their advertising revenue. PBS had longer news shows and offered more in-depth looks at various topics. Prime time for the big 3 networks was generally SITCOMS or cop shows, for PBS it was nature shows, symphonies or plays, etc.
Cable TV created the opportunity for just about any type of news channel and I think that’s where the problem of highly biased news reporting began. People are tribal and want to hear more of what they believe. Rush Limbaugh proved with his radio show that folks want someone to tell them what to think. Apparently, lung cancer is about to do him in, but someone even more extreme will just take his place. The news world seems to have evolved into the far left and the far right and it’s really difficult to find a fair and balanced news report anymore. As well, the business model has changed, and the news shows are expected to make money. NPR, the BBC and the Guardian come to mind, as do the New York Times and Washington Post. Some folks think they tend towards the liberal end of the spectrum, but I think they offer a reasonable amount of conservative editorial opinions. At the end of the day, it’s all about your own critical thinking abilities.
Internet news venues such as Google News or Facebook are dangerous. These AI driven feeds offer up exactly what they think will keep you clicking and scrolling so that their advertisers will pay up. We just watched the NETFLIX movie “The Social Dilemma”, an absolutely stunning documentary, and a warning from many of the people who created social media that we need to escape from its clutches. Reflecting upon my own Google News browsing behavior, I deleted the Google News App from my phone the next morning. I only use FaceBook for rare SITREP reports or the Seawind sailboat group, so that’s not an issue for me.
I’m back to getting the Reuters text news feed over the Iridium Go. A couple of pages of world-wide news available only Monday through Friday and no ads. Almost all the actionable intelligence I need is there, except I’d like more international business news. Maybe I’ll also subscribe to The Economist.
You get what you pay for.
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