AN INFORMED ELECTORATE?

Does NPR count as radio station of sound bites? I guess I listen and do my own further reading if a topic interests me.

Should there be a distinction between CNN and FOX? NPR and a news clip on a music station?

Good questions all, Boss. What do you feel is the answer to your own questions?

I really really want NPR to count as an informed newsource....

As far as CNN vs. FOX, I don't watch TV news enough to have anything more than a gut feeling about which might be better or whether the one counts as more informed than the other.

Oooo! You DID start a thread!

Ok, ummm.. Well, I dunno.. I watch very little television other than the local news and I watch that mostly for the weather forcasts. I do read the papers but most of what I pick up comes from published books. I think books tend to take a more long term view of topics where the "sound bites" of television or radio news give you what is happening right now. Knowing what is happening right now is fine if you are concerned about a tornado rolling down your street or the results on some election but it doesn't give any sort of perspective to measure against.

I can't say anything one way another about the "calibre" of the people that get their news in specific ways but I would think the "news bite' hounds would tend to be more reactionary.. Just a hunch on my part though...

Ini this area at least Ive found that a great number of persons recieve their information from newscasts AND newspapers. I believe the general population does try to be informed with what they have available, unfortunaely however, I do believe they need further information. I certainly would fall into what you might be idenitifying as lazy however, I am not, it only seems that way. I certainly go to the polls hoping I have enough information to make the most educated vote possible but, have felt at many times that I have not.

I'd like to step back in long enough to note that i, as Quinn has said, often arrive at the voting booth feeling that i am not well-enough informed . . .

I dunno, quinn, I think the majority of Americans don't follow the news very closely at all.

I feel unprepared as well, can one feel wholy prepared to vote?

Yes, I think that the general population is uninformed, and I tend to think that the only reason in this area more seem to be more informed than others is the importance politics holds for the area, how greatly informed most can be regarding city/state information, then, they seem to lack information on the higher end.

Setanta
My thread is bigger than yours.

Tough question to get a handle on, though I'm sure some statistics are likely to be kicking about. My terribly limited view is that there is perhaps a scale from "don't read nuttin but love them 49ers" to folks who read dailies and watch nightly news to the superior folks such as ourselves.

The only news show I try to watch regularly is Jim Lehrer on PBS, but even it is unhappily limited (I don't think Chompsky has ever been invited, for example, nor Michael Moore, though that speaks also to the article noted in my thread), but if I catch a political discussion on TV, I'll tend to focus in on it for a while at least.

I certainly do think that the style and structure of modern TV news serves glib, cursory, and confrontational discourse and has delivered an injury to considered and cautious debate broadly in the culture. In that medium, one has to turn to shows like Frontline for any narrative greater than one minute.

I think the "sound bite" thing is key, more so than TV/ Radio. I've had articles written about me by somewhat credible (L.A. Times) and less credible publications, and what has consistently appalled me is how the sound bite mentality gets things WRONG. WRONG WRONG WRONG!

Ahem.

There are just so many things that absolutely cannot be distilled into a few sentences, or even paragraphs, but that is all the public has patience for. Or, more specifically, that is all the "news" purveyors think the public has patience for, and they went to sell their product.

I guess the soundbite is better than nothing (?), but I see this in science reporting, for example, also -- the soundbite leaves an entirely different impression than the reality, and people go around repeating the soundbite until that becomes "common knowledge."

I think hardline stances play well with a dumb viewewrship and nuanced positions take more time and have less appeal to simpletons.

This doesn't mean that I think all hardliners are stupid, just that I think the stupid are more easily swayed by hardline stances.

Many of the voters get their news and political stances on the late night shows, perhaps with even more satirical furvor on "The Daily Show."

I just have a feeling that many busy working people just settle for the sound bite they get from CNN, Fox, or the regular network news. The cable news stations are 24/7 Rah! Rah! War or kidnappings, etc., so just how much vital information does the public get? Not much. The Lehrer News Hour has much more indepth reporting and a lot more international news. As a person who grew up in the 50's and 60's I am just disgusted with what has become of the news media.

VNN-- Hi! Thought I'd try out this new venue. And hello to everyone.

I turned off my TV entirely. It was deleterious to getting any unfiltered news, imo. I do occasionally plug it back in for a PBS special. There was a great one last night on Frontline, btw, about the McWane family and their industrial plants. One of the richest families in America and their plants have an astonishingly large number of worker injuries and deaths. It wasn't easy to watch, I'll admit, but at least I now know there are a few muckrakers left in this world. Unfortunately, too few.

Take care, everyone. Thanks, Joan

Hi Joanlee!

I am sorry to say I missed that show last night! What was I thinking? I had meant to watch it. It is serialed in the New York Times daily, but I wanted to see the tv footage.

I too have cut off viewing much of TV, except for Lehrer and the BBC News that follows. CNN, MSNBC, and the network news just give me heartburn. I glean most of the news from print and the Internet...but I have the luxury of time...since I am of a certain vintage! Ahem!

I should watch Lehrer more than I do -- you've reminded me to tape it (and me with three VCR's -- for shame!) The BBC news is a refreshing change from the talking heads on our cable channels.

Craven -- I don't think all the people are stupid, they're just too lazy to process all of the information from what little news they do take in. The late night humorists do equate to sugar coating the news with jokes but the sugar comes with a lot of vinegar!

Perhaps thats why I prefer BBC to our news stations, the refeshing change. I however am one of those that also trys to watch the city council meetings as well..so, what do I know about the majoirty of the public? I have to agree though, the time people tend to allow themselves for information is short and thats where they end up looking, for the quick fix. I suppose its better than nothing, well..sometimes I wonder.