I've been thinking about this since we heard what JOhn Mark Karr had to eat on the plane.

Is there too much news?

I can remember when there was a half hour of news each night and you got to hear the bare facts of the most important stories and now, at least on our free to air channels, you can get, morning news, midday news, afternoon news, evening news and late-night news. It's like each channel is competeing to give out the most. Then there is the 24 hour pay TV channels ... they just run out of the actual 'news' to report so are forever getting in 'experts' to waffle on as well or just re-hashing the same shot.

When the latest Israel/Lebanon battle was on there were so many cameras bringing us live shots and they almost seemed disappointed when they couldn't show us a missle landing. And when they DID get one of those shots they showed it over and over and over and over. As for the journalists, they stand out there in their bullet proff vests to give us the story and if god-forbid something did happen then they would be hailed heros. Guys? There is a war on - get in a bunker already! (although this doesn't annoy half as much as reporters that go out in hurricanes and get flapped about. IT's a hurricane! We know it's going to be windy)


And the current affairs shows? I can remember when they really had current affairs on them and not stories each night about a Dodgy Brothers building rip off or some new diet. It's only a matter of time before they incorporate both those things into a story.

You know, I think that there is too much news. Not only do we have to hear the same story time and again, but sometimes each story varies from network to network. So not only do we have to hear it five times, but now we don't know which one is the true version. I also think it is a little ridiculous that the reporters be out in the middle of a hurricane (and it's not like we haven't seen footage and more footage from previous hurricanes).

It seems to me that a lot of what is served up as news is part of the would-be entertainment industry. Even wars are often treated in this way.

Real news-no. Sensationalize tabloid TV-yes. Wouldn't have a problem if it was the facts, not all the fluff that is on now. Inside edition, and all these other hybrids make "news" out of nothing. Give me thirty minutes of facts and substance, not the other junk.

It's true. Even on the busiest of news days [ save for a 9/11 situation, where I didn't mind 24 hour coverage for a little while] there is simply not enough news to carry a 24 hour channel. After they've recounted, analysed the same story three times, we are at the mercy of whatever the programming director can come up with...usually something pretty dim, like the love lives of pop stars, or seances with dead pets.

It was a good few years ago now but there was a headline, maybe not the front story but pretty close, that went .. "Elle McPherson Not Pregnant!" - must have been a really slow news day.

There are so many ways to look at this [and I'm speaking solely from an American perspective, of course - I don't know how my observations do or don't apply to other countries]. In this country more people vote for who they liked best on "American Idol" last night than do in local or national elections. The dreaded ratings of a (definitively light) news/interview show spike 59% not because anything especially more important is being said all of a sudden but because a one-time talk show hostess, a popular one, joins the staff as a new hostess on said show. There is a definite tendency over here, too, to only watch the news when it is spun in the way that we agree with. In other words, if one doesn't like the recent illiteracy rates and a very informative discussion regarding it? Well, what else to do but to flip the channel and find someone saying the same story but assuring us that it's really not our fault and that "all is well". For me, the most aggravating thing I encounter (when watching what I consider generally well-rounded and fair 'overall' news coverage) is when, after a most fascinating debate on, say, the realities about national immigration problems or advancements in the research of the AIDS virus, the very next segment is that Rachel Raey cooking up a horsemeat casserole or something. Why is all this in place? Because of the audience and what they really watch and really want. Abortion debates might lose a few of our viewers/consumers. Certainly Horse Burgers whipped up in 30 minutes or less will corral them back in. There certainly IS enough actual news happening in the world to support 24 hours of "real" news a day. There's just not enough horses.
Our local channel here manages to come up, daily, with a solid hour (give or take) of news each day. I'm certain there are other local channels that do the same and that there are many more than 24 of them. But what does a person in Cleveland care about a routine shooting in Rhode Island? I think we don't. That's there and we're here. That's their news. I disagree with that. It's our news. I was a bit appalled that in this country there was not [at least I didn't hear it] one second of coverage regarding those Proms in England. Nothing even said about it! So, to me, that was news that just didn't get covered, and the majority of Americans were clueless to what it even was! Why? Because if they ran such a story we wouldn't find it interesting or immediate. If Simon Cowell mentioned it, though, we'd not be able to get enough. If Simon Cowell on a horse said so? Well, the line forms post haste...

I think you may have it in one, Gats. There is plenty going on in the world that a well informed person should know about, but that doesn't seem to be what is covered by the 'news', from what you guys are saying.

I don't watch TV news, ever, so have a different view than most. I read the big newspaper from the city every morning, our local weekly for local stuff, and listen to a current affairs oriented radio station all day. Even so, events will come up here, say, that I have never heard of through those channels.

I do think, though, that the situation for those of us who are not Americans is a little different from you Yanks. I have noticed here in discussions that Americans very rarely comment on news items from other countries, and I suspect that US TV news doesn't really cover international news, unless it is huge, like the tsunami, or entertainment oriented, like Steve Irwin, or involved with American concerns, like Iraq. Those of us outside the US can't really ignore American news items, but I think that an American may have to actually go looking for international news.

I've stopped watching TV news for the past two years..in fact, I have rarely watched it except in an emergency like when they announced the flooding was reaching the neighborhoods around us and where to get sandbags last Spring.

I also notice a sort of trend going on on the TV news in the States...it's really quite a big production and yet, it's the same old news.

I read several sites and I also read the French TV station's online site from time to time. I get the BBC in the car as well as NPR which is my favorite.

I was thinking that if the coup d'etat in Thailand had happened earlier, do you think the whole Karr thing would have been blown so high out of proportion? I mean, the Thais would not have been so ready to do this operation with all the ruckus in their home govt, and the guy might have escaped somewhere.

I agree that since I've returned to the States, the overwhelming feeling is that America is the only thing worth mentioning and the only foreign news is how it affects the States and Americans.

THere is an awful lot of celebrity stuff though and though I am shy to admit it, I occasionally indulge in a bit of it, just to know what others are mentioning.
As I don't watch TV anymore though, it's hard to know who is who.

Hmm...I've never been a big fan of TV news, I do watch it occasionally if there is something truly good on. I don't read the local newspaper either because I don't think that they usually include enough worth-while news. I mean the fact that Wal-Mart remarked an exit sign made front page news! Now that to me was the last straw and I have not bought the paper since. If I want news I listen to NPR or I find it online.

I will add though, that I actually do get a lot of news from the Spanish stations since we watch those. The news there has to do with issues here in the States as well as Latin America for the most part so it's not as isolated to purely American issues.