On any given day there are two or three "big stories" in the world news. These stories are sometimes heavily reported on for a day, or days. Sometimes it carries out for weeks., Think of all the major events that have taken place over the past five years which all of a sudden vanished from the news and we never hear about them again because it's always replaced by some other crisis the news media deems relevant and important at that given time, while many other things go unreported altogether.
Whatever is "important" at any given time is whatever the news tells us is important, when often it is just a distraction from other things of greater importance, which may not be given the coverage they deserve. Furthermore, when the news covers something of importance, it doesn't stop being important once the news stops covering it, yet how many people show concern about things if the news is not talking about it? From day to day we are given stories we're supposed to be concerned about, before moving us to the next crisis. Things that happened a month ago, which might still be happening, become mere figments of our imagination and are lost down the memory hole.
I don't read the news I don't watch the news I don't listen to the news. I agree though, the media dictates what is important or not and to me none of it is important. Complete arrogant asshole on the matter, I know, but if it doesn't have a dramatic effect on my personal life I just don't care. So for the plane, that actor, some middle eastern conflict.. it just doesn't concern me. Sports news, that's what I watch, listen and read.
I know most news organizations are slanted or simple a different mouth-piece of the establishment but one that I enjoy online is The Real News Network. No advertising, government or corporate funding. They don't cover every single thing going on in the world and their stories are usually 10-15 minutes long but it's one site I like to get info from. I don't feel like they're just trying to tell me what I want to hear or some other biased twist to the story. You can go to therealnews.com if you're interested or find them on FB.
Remember Kony? "Knowing" and "caring" are kind of like a bandaids, I think. It makes us feel less guilty going about our lives.
As a way of predicting what the media will spend the most time on, take a look at which threads in HF get the most views and replies. Racially charged topics get many hits, as well as mass shootings. Ongoing mysteries are another (a missing jetliner, etc). When the media gets really bored it concocts stories. People were posting on HF about CNN predicting a supposed imminent U.S. invasion in the Mideast that had all its viewers on the edge of their seats (CNN even had an invasion countdown clock going). Nothing happened. There are advantages to forgetting about the media for a while.
It is not surprising that the news cycles that way as that is how we tend to live life. Very few people care to put effort into being overly informed and some who think they are, are as misguided or uniformed as the rest. Research is a tool that has gone the way of coles cheat notes. The desire to actually read and use critical thinking is becoming a time commodity that very few wish to invest in. Perhaps we reap what we desire and to blame the media is biased as they supply what is expected.
true, as far as i know. at least to the extent that 99% of sports news is basically just some guy's opinion on some event that is probably accurate. and then the next guy's opinion on that event. and then the next guy's. and the next guy's. and then back to the original guy's. and then back to the second guy's. and so on, for about a month, until another "big story" comes along for them all to give their opinions on for the next month or so.
A news event is portrayed as what is happening. If you are looking at the news it is possible that there is not much interest in what is happening in an immediate sense.
I'm that way about alot of news, especially local news. It used to drive my mother insane that I didn't watch the new. She always wanted to know how I'd know things. I'd answer by telling her that if it wasn't happening in my front yard then it wasn't important. Also, if it was really important hubby or someone else would tell me.
That is why we had the underground press in the "sixties" and what one of the functions of the music of the era was (music with a message). The underground press has been around for years all across the globe. Here is a list of those from the "sixties" in the U.S. I pulled a state of purpose printed on May 26, 1972 in Grok/Fair Witness, a Pittsburgh underground newspaper. Sound familiar? The internet can serve the same function now, alternative to large media outlets. But it is non-selective, anyone can post anything, or any view.
on any given day, too many people try to do the same things at the same time. and often in the same places. which makes those same places such a complete wasteland any other time. (but in relation to the op, when the same corporations control both the media and the government, its kind of an oxymoron to call that a free press. however there are alternative sources of real journalism. you just won't find anything besides the propiganda pap the corporations want to feed you on television, other then maybe one or two cable chanels. there are non-corporate sources on the net (which is why the corporations are so damd and determined to quash net neutrality). its not that these are completely without biases of their own, but at least fallow through in depth, and give you a better idea of the range of things that are actually going on. and if what's actually going on is as scarry as what the corporations are trying to scare us with, well forwarned is four armed, or something like that. among other thngs there an outfit called fairness and accuracy in reporting, there's amy, and there's the blogoshpere, which yah, anyone can say anything, but that's the only way you're ever going to hear anything real instead of pre-digested)
