
America Is Too Dumb for TV News - hobs
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/america-is-too-dumb-for-tv-news-20151125
======
petewailes
The problem is that far too often, what we align ourselves with is far more to
do with cultural identity and supporting of viewpoints which dovetail with our
own, than out of any desire to believe what's actually correct.

I don't say this about America, but about people in general. We care far more
about our egos and not challenging the beliefs we hold, than we do about being
correct.

For myself, I can't help but look at this, and the rise of the micro-
aggression culture and see links. There's something odd that's happened, where
opinion and niceness has become sacrosanct, beyond truth. It's a tribalistic,
and ultimately dangerous thing.

~~~
ebola1717
>I can't help but look at this, and the rise of the micro-aggression culture
and see links

That's funny, because my first thought was the kneejerk reactions on Reddit to
anything that could be construed as "SJW." This phenomenon doesn't pick a
side.

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forgottenpass
The media has been the driving force for extinguishing critical thinking by
the news consumer for decades.

They're so focused on entertainment that they don't want - or even know how -
to dispense of an idiot like Trump.

So instead they throw some GOML shade at the people they've throughly failed.

------
ChuckMcM
The article seems to have some truth wrapped in a lot of sensationalism. The
basic premise seems to be that the News has become more entertainment in its
effort to gain viewership, and as its taken viewers along with it, they have
lost their ability to think critically.

I don't agree with the conclusion, I often read pieces like this one which
expresses outrage with the news media, but can agree that the economic
requirements for news programs and channels to support their host
organizations has influenced them in negative ways. And that leads me to
conclude that if you want hard hitting and accurate journalism you need to
find a different way to support it.

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Shivetya
flagged, this tripe does not belong on HN. It is a pure partisan hit piece and
if this is what HN is to become prior to the next election it will not be
worth visiting. Amazing the title wasn't Republican Voters are too dumb for TV
news, because that all this article is trying to convey

~~~
corin_
Have you seen Aaron Sorkin's most recent TV show, The Newsroom? It's mostly
left-leaning (by American standards, at least) so you may not like it
(apologies if I've mis-judged your political stance..), but personally I
thought it was a great - though often very flawed - show. Anyway, the reason I
mention it is that one story theme is the idea that balanced journalism
doesn't always mean 50% to each side. I can't find the quote I want from the
show with a quick Google, but here's a very similar quote from Sorkin himself:
_' I don’t believe the truth always lies in the middle. I don’t believe there
are two sides to every argument. I think the facts are the center. And
watching the news abandon the facts in favor of “fairness” is what’s troubling
to me.'_

Regardless of whether it was said by Trump or Clinton, if someone says they
"watched in Jersey City, New Jersey, where thousands and thousands of people
were cheering [at the 9/11 attacks]" and then claimed they saw it on TV, and
then facts showed that this was never shown on TV because as far as anyone can
tell it didn't happen... I'd want to see an article about them lying. And that
article would naturally make the side of whoever lied look worse. Nothing
partisan about it.

~~~
mercer
I've been watching The West Wing again (also Sorkin), and even though I really
like the show, at times I cringe at how self-righteous and patronizing the
writing can be.

One thing that made the show more palatable was the addition of Ainsley Hayes,
a Republican who is hired by the White House on the president's insistence
(and causes much grumbling from the other characters initially). She
specifically calls out the self-righteous attitude of the other characters and
their simplistic view of all Republicans as gun-toting hillbillies.

I stopped watching The Newsroom because it was both more extreme in its
partisanship and in its oversimplification of the opposition. And it didn't
have an Ainsley Hayes character (or at least not one as good).

I grew up as a very religious evangelical christian, and as such I grew up
alongside many American evangelicals who would never vote for the baby-killing
atheist Democrats.

And while I strongly disagree with most of their views, I've come to realize
that this is not because they're stupid and I'm smart, or because they're mean
and I'm kind, or because they're lazy and I am not, but rather most of the
time it's because we just disagree on some very fundamental issues. If I were
to accept their axioms to be true, they can provide coherent and perhaps even
convincing arguments. I know this because I believed much of what they believe
myself. Sure, I was younger, but I wasn't stupid. Or at least not more stupid
than I am now...

~~~
corin_
Personally the shows suited my political views, but I definitely always saw
how they could be much less fun to watch for other people.

An interesting quote from the same Sorkin interview [1] I mentioned before:

 _Question: 'Will’s take is that liberals don’t know how to win and
conservatives are wrong and often ignorant. The left will like that version of
fairness more than the right will.'

Sorkin's Answer: 'All I can say is this: First of all, my biggest concern
always is, was it a good story, well told? I’m not thinking about the politics
at all. But I don’t want to make the same mistake that I accuse the media of
making, which is that they all better be equal accusations on all sides, that
fairness is somehow a virtue in art. It’s not. Fairness and balance don’t have
anything to do with art. This isn’t journalism, and it doesn’t have to live by
those rules. It’s meant to have a subjective point of view and an authorial
voice.'_

[1] [http://www.vulture.com/2012/06/aaron-sorkin-newsroom-
intervi...](http://www.vulture.com/2012/06/aaron-sorkin-newsroom-
interview.html)

------
pinaceae
hm, as a European I miss radio news more. not dedicated channels like here,
but the mandated news breaks _every_ radio channel needs to broadcast. no one
can escape getting at least a tiny amount of information. it is so easy to be
completely oblivious over here in the US.

that being said, i don't think it is that bad. trump is an old, white rich guy
- what exactly did you think is going in his head? its amazing that he is
restraining himself from ranting about "niggers, chinks and wetbacks". you
know he talks like that in private, like any other of his profile. that is how
he grew up, in a segregated US.

black president, gay marriage - all signs that society overall is moving in
the right direction, the old guard simply dying off. like that crazy aunt
you'll meet at thanksgiving who only rants about "the jews".

happy thanksgiving.

~~~
krisdol
> hm, as a European I miss radio news more. not dedicated channels like here,
> but the mandated news breaks every radio channel needs to broadcast.

Same, however my commute to/from work is luckily listening to the Boston NPR
station, where I get a full dose of BBC News in the mornings and a random NPR
news show in the afternoon depending on when I leave. I unplugged my cable a
long time ago, and I stopped visiting most news websites even longer ago. If
it weren't for shares on facebook, I'd never find out about what scandalous
thing a politician said to get in the media's eye again. If I could filter
facebook to only have text and photo shares from friends, I'd be so much
happier with the site.

It's interesting what you say about what's going on in his head. Before I
graduated school or worked in software, I had a pretty interesting repeating
summer job as a QA technician in the nuclear industry. I did a great job and
got along great with my boss and coworkers, and often we'd get together over
holidays and special occasions. He was an older guy nearing early retirement.
On one such get-together, the boss revealed his real opinion about "who caused
all this crap shit we're in", being "niggers and spics". Ugh. I was shocked
that I was working for a racist, but what shocked me more was just hearing
that, period. I couldn't imagine holding an opinion like that at all, let
alone having it my entire adult life and believing it worthwhile to share.

I have a hard time believing that most politicians are as dumb as the words
they say to get on the air, and Trump is a master at constantly being on the
air. But, at this point, I wouldn't be surprised by it.

------
wwzuk
If you want to be a leader and you say something silly, then you say it with
conviction and you go with it. That's what a lot of modern leaders don't seem
to understand. They duck and retreat when offended groups or the media go
after them - and it looks feeble.

The media and those groups don't really matter.

