TV news: Turn it off and get a better picture of the world
Television news programs are just about the worst way to get
news for two important reasons.
1) Television itself inhibits the functioning of left brain
rational analysis. 2) The television media has become
centralized into a few huge media conglomerates.
Most people are aware of the consolidation of the media
industry. However, people are only dimly aware of TV's
inhibition of left brain functioning. Try this experiment. Right
now. Critically review three of the news stories you watched on
TV last night. Ready. Set. Go!
So, only a few perspectives are presented on the TV news, and
when viewers like yourself watch this news, they are inhibited
from logically analyzing the stories. That is terrible news for
democracy. Democracy needs informed citizens that can analyze
and discuss different views of a situation.
I use a few simple guidelines to get a picture of what is going
on in the world. These do require a little more effort than
parking in front of a TV set and mindlessly absorbing the
images, but not too much more.
Reading is more efficient
The first step is to start reading, instead of watching, your
news. Television generally takes a lot of time to get across a
little bit of information. With reading you can absorb
information much faster. A five minute story on the news can be
read online or in the newspaper generally in less than a minute.
The spare time can be used to analyze the story.
Get several quality news sources
The next step in developing a good picture of the world is to
get several good news sources. Begin with a mainstream newspaper
or website to simply get an idea of the basic issues that are at
stake.
Then, select a couple of alternative news sources outside the
mainstream. I am not going to recommend a particular source,
because I do not wish to become engaged in liberal/conservative
partisan discussions. These distinctions start to fall away once
you start to analyze the news for yourself anyway.
Analyze the information
The next step is simply to start critically viewing the material
that you read. Does it make logical sense? Are there
inconsistencies? Does the story change from one day to the next?
Are there any patterns to events? Finally, the most important
question to ask for any given situation is: who benefits? Rarely
do events happen by chance in the world and asking that one,
little question can lead to much greater understanding of any
situation. Put that left brain into hyper-drive.
Find original sources and witnesses
If there are inconsistencies or notable patterns, it is time to
start researching. Whenever possible it is best to go to the
source of an issue. For example, if the government passes a new
law about security, don