Do you find broadcast news insulting to your intelligence?

Absolutely, could they dumb it down anymore?!
I remember watching with my grandparents, and it’s seems like a parody of what it used to be, which is actually informative.

Often, but not always. Depends on the source, the story and who’s reporting it. I think “broadcast news” is too broad and general a term.

@KNOWITALL: Okay, so it’s not just me.

@Pachyderm_In_The_Room: I’m basically referring to your local network news affiliates. As I said, I was watching the Boston-based NBC affiliate (channel 7) — their newscast. So, local broadcast news I guess. Although, there may be examples of this behavior on national news you could point me to.

Yeah…they just keep talking to fill in gaps. Same thing with the Boston coverage.

Last night while I was at the laundromat, there was a police chase on the news, they actually reported that “while details are still coming in, it appears the officers spotted the vehicle and the driver chose not to pull over.” And I’m sitting there thinking “We’ll no fucking shit they didn’t pull over, that’s why they have been chasing them for over an hour, fucktard. Way to point out the obvious.”

Great question, and I couldn’t agree more with everything you said about tv news. For those of us that don’t watch tv news, viewing it for a mere 5 minutes is a surreal experience.

There really is no need for tv news to exist (except for possibly people who have disabilities or can’t read). There is nothing tv news provides that the written word cannot do better – except manipulate. Plus, how are people tolerating a format that is simply a stream of shit information? It’s 2013. When I read a news article, it’s never a linear start-to-finish experience. It will involve multiple tabs open with searches for fact-checking, back story, etc.

@Dutchess_III: Yes. Lots of “ums” and “ahs”. Just grasping for material.

@cheebdragon: Exactly. Do they assume their audience is that stupid?

@tom_g: Right. At minimum, I can read the account and have my own thoughts about without nonsense repeating in my ear.

Who do they think their audience is really?

Have you ever seen QVC? It’s someone trying to think of 5000 ways to describe a watch. They have to blabber for 2 hours about it, and it just gets more and more absurd.

Television news is QVC for news. But we’re the product. Their clients are the advertisers.

Over here in england town, the BBC & particularly Sky do a great job with their news coverage, dedicated correspondents in their chosen field, they are a world away from the Ron Burgundy approach adopted by their yank counterparts…except for Kay Burley, she gets on my tits.

@tom_g So with media, if no one watches and ratings drop off, the show is usually cancelled and replaced. Do you think that as older generations pass away, news will eventually go the way of print and go strictly online? Magazines and newspapers all have counterparts online now to collect that revenue, just wondered if you thought it was a possiblity and when do you think it could occur if so?

Why stop at “broadcast news”? I find most of Congress, both sides of the aisle, to be ludicrous, stupid and venal.

Here’s one that really annoyed me: And next, we will have Valerie Bertinelli’s (actress) tie to the Boston Marathon tragedy. She comes on and says she ran the marathon 4 years ago.
Really?? That is your tie to the bombing? That’s all the news you can come up with?

I love when someone gets hurt during the Knives segment on QVC, I’ve seen 2–3 people cut themselves on accident, and I very very rarely watch it, even then it’s only for a few minutes. Makes me smile everytime though.

@chyna lol yeah I saw that, they were just itching for anyone famous who has ever been to Boston to share their opinion and personal experience of the city.

What they’re doing is talking talking talking hoping something else will happen while the cameras are rolling. As long as the camera is rolling they keep talking. I couldn’t do it!

I used to watch Cheers, I feel great empathy for Bostonians.

Yes. I pretty much do.

@KNOWITALL: I think that’s where it’s heading — and they know it. But instead of figuring out ways to offer viewers something of value, they simply come off as desperate.

@chyna‘s example demonstrates this perfectly. That’s not only pathetic, but Valerie Bertinelli should be ashamed of herself for playing along.

@tom_g: The QVC analogy is pretty spot on. The anchors and field reporters — do you think they realize they come off as boobs?

@Dutchess_III: So true, and that just adds to how desperate they appear.

“Ooh, ooh. Watch us. We’re still important. Look here.”

Yes, I find it insulting. I don’t watch it. There are so many ways to take in news these days, isn’t it great to be able to choose not to watch?

It depends on the news channel. I find the quality of our public broadcaster’s news service to be quite high (most of the time). Their broadcasts rarely become too inane. However, ‘news’ coverage (using the word news very loosely), on the commercial networks and especially the breakfast news programmes are awful. Truly vacuous. To the point where I can’t watch them.

@Bellatrix & @ucme: Sounds like there’s some better choices outside the US.

@glacial: Yes, and that is the best point. I love my AP and NPR apps.

@KNOWITALL – re: the death of tv news. I don’t think it will disappear. But it will likely continue to change so it will find an audience. Right now, I think they are shifting to a different demographic, while attempting to tempt the younger generation by absurdly trying to integrate hashtags and other tech into their format. The death of newspapers and magazines was definitely a wakeup call. But tv news is technically entertainment. As long as enough people find it entertaining, they’ll be ok. They likely won’t be able to sell news slots to BMW because of a shifting demo, but I would imagine they can pull in enough by selling local sub shop or baby lotion.

I don’t know of too many people my age and socioeconomic group are tuning into tv news. Additionally, the whole format of tv is going through some growing pains. Online video is a model that is increasingly moving into the tv realm. Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and other services (even DVR) are spoiling viewers. The idea that people would have to be home for some show is something of the past. And younger people are likely to demand media that can be consumed when it fits their schedule. Netflix is releasing original content.

Anyway, total derail. And all just speculation.

Am I the only one that has seen local news stations cover a piece and the only thing they show is a web page * cough * Fox “News” * cough *. It just seems completely unprofessional and pretty much the opposite of what they’re supposed to be doing which is…ya know…actually going somewhere to get a story.

Disclaimer: I in no way watch Fox News or anything from the AP myself. The only news site that I visit is truthout.com and I don’t always agree with what they have to say either.

@jsammons: I have not seen that. Sounds pretty damn lazy. As stated above, anything to fill time.

Do you think the 24-hour news cycle that exists now has led local news in this direction – at least partly?

@cookieman I honestly think that a lot of it comes down to a few companies controlling the majority of the major media outlets. They know what will get them viewers and they know that most people have little to no attention spans these days. Stares out window. Oh, sorry, zoned out for a second.

ι ℓιкє ωαт¢нιиg ¢ии σи мυтє, ѕσ ι ¢αи яєα∂ тнє тι¢кєя.

(just wanted to see if that would actually work, sorry….but I really do like the CNN ticker.)

Yes, particularly when the majority of it is either filler or opinion. Just tell me the facts and shut the fuck up. I will draw my own conclusions thank you.

Here, in western Canada, they usually do pretty well. Compared to much of the American news broadcasts any ways. I don’t understand why they treat their viewers like complete morons. Example: whilst showing a photo of a cat in a car, “This is the cat in the car.” Um…really? You mean it’s not some other cat in some other car? I’m so glad you cIarified! I tend to stay away from American newscast for this very reason. I always end up wanting to slap them. You should all go on a massive protest against these fools!

¡ʞǝǝs sʞɹoʍ ’ɐʎ

ⓘ ⓚⓝⓞⓦ!

^^ How are you doing this? Are you Wiccan?

ιρнσиє fσит αρρ & ¢σρу/ραѕтє
(Too much effort in my opinion, I was just curious to see if it would work everywhere. But if magic were real, id be all over that shit…)

Ahh cool.
Soooo… you’re not Wiccan?