Generally, I do not watch television news. But recently I spent a week watching it to try to determine why one would watch it.
The national news spends much of its time on crime and weather. On the national news, mass shootings anywhere in the world are covered, unspeakable war crimes are covered. Weather all over the United States is covered, even though knowing about it is usually of no practical value to people here. And stories about global warming, which is an existential threat, are notably absent.
Political coverage is basically “horse race” coverage — who’s ahead? You could watch for months and learn nothing about where Joe Biden and Donald Trump, for instance, stand on the issues. The local TV news is a little better — guilty of the same things as the national news, but to a lesser degree. It seems to me that watching the television news is likely to make one feel scared, anxious and shocked — and leave one uninformed. Why watch?
Our broadcast media clearly are not here to provide us with useful information. They are here to provide sensationalism so as to attract more viewers. Shame on them.
