Cable News Networks Are Mostly NOT News

[MineralMan]

Instead, they are discussion programs where people with various levels of knowledge and access comment on news items. They're sort of like DU in that way. There's some news that gets mentioned in passing, but the bulk of the programming is discussion by "experts," "former someones," and "well-known personalities."

There is very little actual news presented, generally. To their credit, they often present speeches and announcements live. But then, they chat about it, attempt to analyze it, and present editorial opinion about the news. The discussion goes on for hours upon hours. Discussion is not news. It is analysis and opinion.

It's difficult to watch cable news programming and actually get the news with any efficiency. A better approach is to watch straight news programming on one of the broadcast networks. You can watch in the morning, afternoon, or late evening on ABC, CBS, or NBC, and avoid too much analysis. Those news programs will give you actual news, quickly and without much, if any, commentary.

I'd skip the Fox broadcast stations.

Since broadcast TV news programming also includes local news broadcasts from your locality, you will also benefit by learning what is going on where you live on a regular basis. Typically, each news program lasts half an hour and are presented back to back. So, in a single hour, you can get a digest of local, national, and global news.

I also encourage everyone to read a major metro area daily newspaper, either delivered or online. Every day. You can skip the editorial pages, since they have no news, just commentary. You'll soon learn that newspaper news coverage is actually a day late, but typical newspaper stories include more details than TV news broadcasts, so you can fill in your knowledge.

Then, you can watch cable news folks chatter away about that news around the clock, if you wish.

Cable News is Not News. It Is Punditry.

Watch and read straight news and form your own opinions. That's my advice.

[Moostache]

1. BBC World News and BBC America along with PBS Newshour

Those sources are far more effective for news than anything else...CNN, MSNBC are obsessed with telling the story of why Joe Biden is failing to meet the expectations of the Fox News / Newsmax tribe.

[MineralMan]

2. Yes, that is another option in some areas.

[EYESORE 9001]

3. I'm reminded of an old joke

where one restaurant patron complains about the bad quality of the food and the dining companion is aggrieved at the small portions.

I wish I had a nickel for every complaint on here about something someone said on a cable news program. There is a simple solution: stop watching that tripe.

[MineralMan]

4. I can hear MSNBC from my office. It's on the living room TV,

but nobody's in the room watching it. Both my wife and I are in our respective offices. But, we can hear it. If something is breaking, we'll hear it and go and have a look.

However, in the morning and around the dinner hour, the TV is tuned to one of the broadcast networks, usually CBS, for an hour of local, national and global news. We're news buffs, I guess. I don't actually watch hardly any MSNBC. It's just on in the background in case something dramatic happens.

[Shermann]

9. It's painful to leave cable news on, they loop the commercials with the crappy music way too much nt

[tenderfoot]

5. Neither are the networks (ABC, CBS or NBC)

It's 'Entertainment Tonight'

[MineralMan]

6. Not so. They present a digest of the news of the day.

That's why any one of the broadcast network news programs beats the crap out of all the cable news combined in terms of viewership.

One hour a day to get that digest. Then you can watch pundits chat as much as you want.

The three alphabet networks are slightly different in their approach, but they all present the news as news better than any cable channel.

[Mr.Bill]

12. I remember Walter Cronkite

called his show a "headline service". He said if you want to know more about the story, look for print news. Of course now, the peint news can be found online, but you have to know where to look for it.

[Diamond_Dog]

7. I don't have my TV on the news all day long.

In fact I don’t have my TV on at all until after dinner, unless there’s a special event going on that I want to see, like Biden’s inauguration.

I know some folks who watch cable news all day long. That is absolutely not for me.

The thing about the endless discussions and analysis is that the networks have to air something 24 hours a day and once you run out of commercials for prescription drugs or insurance plans, that still leaves a lot of air time to fill. For the most part, I find this endless opinion chatter a huge waste of my time. But, that’s just me. I have good friends who watch that stuff all day long. To each his own, I guess. I tend to rely on DU for any breaking news headlines.

[Ocelot II]

8. I've stopped watching cable "news" almost entirely

for exactly the reasons you describe. If something actually newsworthy and non-political happens I might tune in; CNN is still pretty good at reporting about things like natural disasters and plane crashes (at least until they start speculating about causes). But I've become tired of the punditry, even punditry I agree with (ironically, the etymology of the word "pundit" is the Sanskrit word pandita, meaning wise man or scholar, which these characters mostly are not). I have a subscription to the local newspaper to get local news, which they are still pretty good at reporting, and for the crossword puzzles, which I would rather do on paper than on a computer. The Internet has multiple news sources, and if you explore enough of them, including international sources, you might be able to find out what's really going on.

[MineralMan]

11. During the day, I keep a tab open on DU, and check it frequently.

Most important news stories show up here very quickly, so I tend to follow news on DU.

Mostly, my wife and I watch an hour of CBS national and local news at 6 AM and 5 PM. I prefer those broadcasts, but on the weekend WCCO tends to bump the news for sports events at the 5 PM hour. That annoys the crap out of me.

ABC's national news reporting is far too "breathless" to suit me. NBC is OK, but I don't like the local news on that local affiliate.

I do watch an hour of Nicole Wallace at 4 PM, but often am reading something else during the show. I get New York Magazine, The New Yorker, and Vanity Fair in the mail. I read through the main sections of the Star Tribune daily, as well. I actually prefer the Pioneer Press, but they don't do home delivery in the West metro.

DU is still my primary source for news, which I get in GD, mostly. I use GD as my home page on DU and rarely bother with LBN, frankly, since someone will post most stories in GD as soon as they appear.

[Magoo48]

10. IMHO, corporate, network and cable "news" is a tightly controlled propaganda circle jerk.

There are many powerful stories lying beyond the grasp of the few investigative reporters left. They can see them but not allowed to touch them.

Cancer Alley
The MIC
Corrupt Lobbyists
The bloated war department budget
Big Oil’s ongoing, horrific, environmental catastrophe in Ecuador and on, and on, and on………

Want news not afraid to look in depth under any stone, try listener sponsored radio.

Democracy Now is a good place to begin.
Pacifica radio
KPFK. Here in SoCal. Listener sponsored for over 60 years.

[Hekate]

13. Good observations

I told that poster to Turn. It. Off.
Then saw you’d dropped by, but left. Thanks for expanding.

[MineralMan]

16. Hi. Yes. I posted a shorter version of this in that thread and

then self-deleted to start a new thread with it.

I couldn't see any value in responding to the other thread, really. There's a lot of that sort of thing on DU. People come in and drop some generalization or another and then leave. I'm trying not to add to such threads these days.

However, there are many people here on DU who are addicted to cable news. I find too much of it to be a waste of time. I'm not actually sure whether MSNBC, for example, even has a straight news program it airs. CNN is the same way, really. Anytime you tune in, it's just talking heads gabbling endlessly about whatever the story du jour is. A waste of time.

I do want to know what is happening, but I don't need anyone to tell me what I should think about what is happening.

[LiberalFighter]

14. You are mostly right.

I see the problem with news today is that fewer people read the newspapers or watch the local tv news.

I don't think online local news or any other news is read as much as paper newspapers. Mainly because most people just skim it when it is on their phone.

[pwb]

15. It is their silence on major issues that hurts America

and Americans. Any question is news now. They ask the question and answer it like it is news. I have left cable news and C-Span which they own. right after they started treating President Joe Biden like shit on day one. They continue so like you I watch network news and come here often. I get the Albany times union on line too. It's good.

[Kaleva]

17. Broadcast news gets far more viewers then cable news.

It's often said here that Fox News dominates MSBC and CNN but very rarely is it mentioned that Fox gets trounced by ABC News, CBS News and NBC News.

And if one looks at the big picture, the percentage of adults in this country who watch Fox News is in the very low single digits.

[MineralMan]

18. Yes. Far more. People watch news on broadcast networks.

For many here, though, they have shut all that off in favor of cable news and internet sources. I still find network news very useful, along with the daily newspaper.

It's a good idea to keep an eye on what gets watched by the most people, I think.

Any one of those three broadcast networks' news programming far exceeds the viewership of Fox News Network. Every day. There's no comparison, really.

People watch broadcast networks on cable, or with an antenna, these days, if they can't afford cable.

I sometimes wonder how many people on DU have ever checked the channel availability with an antenna on their smart TV. I'm betting not. There's one connected to ours. Just a pair of old rabbit ears. Using those, I get almost 40 channels. All the regular broadcast networks, three public TV channels, and a bunch of oddball programming that is being broadcast by those network affiliates for home viewers who don't have cable connections. Pretty amazing what's available, actually. Most people don't even know it's there.

Every now and then, Comcast/Xfinity has problems. I just switch over to the antenna and go right on watching. I encourage everyone near any major market to get a cheap antenna and check out what's coming in for free over the airwaves. It might be surprising, actually.

[Kaleva]

19. Back when I was young, we had one channel, WLUC-TV6. A CBS affiliate at the time.

The advantage of that was there was no arguing about what channel to watch as the choice was limited to just one.

With my Amazon Firestick and the internet, I can watch news segments from the 3 major broadcast networks about the top stories of the day that I'm interested in.

But mostly I get my news from LBN here at DU. I read the OPs, the responses and sometimes I'll Google Search for more info on a particular story.

[brooklynite]

20. Many people don't go to Cable channels for news.

They go to have their person opinions validated. Applies to both sides of the political spectrum.

[Klaralven]

21. Infotainment