It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.

Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.

Thank you.

 

Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.

 

Network News

page: 1
7

log in

join
share:

posted on Sep, 2 2018 @ 12:11 AM
link   


Should anybody be watching the news anymore?

Perhaps there are still niche outlets dedicated to keeping the public informed on current topics, issues, and changes happening around them.

It seems such a miracle, when only a few generations ago news traveled slowwwww. Any letter or telegram was digested with proper thoughtfulness. Words had weight.

One of my favorite members posted a thread the other day and it got me to thinking
www.abovetopsecret.com...

This is what we, in the vernacular, refer to as a real slow news day moment.

But just what is 'news' in an age where we aren't waiting on that telegram to blip through in Morse?

We are inundated and overstimulated with more bombast than can be properly processed, internalized, and reflected upon.

The MSM machine is one of the most intriguing things to me: It gets people excited and riled up over things they probably wouldn't normally care about if they hadn't seen it on 'the news.'

When I was a kid, I used to think 'the news' was just for old people. Now I think the news is for pseudo-intellectuals who seemingly have no other hobbies!

Some of you may recall what I do for a living. I am astonished at the number of people who become spellbound by CNN or Fox News as if gospel. They go to that Network News quicker than a lab rat on amphetamines!

News is info-tainment churned out by networks who needs to do 2 things: a) earn revenue, b) influence public opinion as a means to earn revenue

It has mutated into one of the most evil things humanity has ever created--a form of destructive indoctrination posing as an unbiased educational resource.

If news still traveled by wire, how would things be today? Words no longer have the gravity they used to. Anything can be fabricated or misrepresented; deception is the norm.

Will humanity ever awaken from its stupor? Tune in at 11 to find out!




edit on 2-9-2018 by NarcolepticBuddha because: (no reason given)



posted on Sep, 2 2018 @ 12:16 AM
link   
News is mostly designed for distracting entertainment.
Its true value is miniscule.



posted on Sep, 2 2018 @ 12:20 AM
link   
You will gain as much wisdom from news as reading the lettering on chip wrappers.



posted on Sep, 2 2018 @ 12:26 AM
link   
I don’t watch the news ( sometimes local) .. but I do get their twitter feeds just to see what MSM is trying to spin.

Like Grambler says, there are nuggets of truth in the news, you just have to discern their agendas in how they spin the facts.



posted on Sep, 2 2018 @ 12:52 AM
link   
Need to add alternative news is also just as junk-ful.
Examples?

The Camelot crowd
Voices who preach Gaia
The project Montauk
the list goes on.
Clearly all disinfo agents or trying to make easy money.



posted on Sep, 2 2018 @ 01:34 AM
link   
How easy it is to shoot the messenger (in this case, the so-called “MSM”), when, in fact it is the the audience, we, ourselves, to blame for not only What is presented to us as “news”, but also, HOW that information is presented.

We got bored with the “talking heads” of the Murrow/Cronkite era; when news was international/national, and local only by local reporters.

We demanded more than “just the facts”, we demanded to know the “why’s” of the facts: why is this “important”? Why should “I” care about this fact? Why does this affect me in any way?

So the news became “personal”, became “relatable”, became “News YOU Can Use!” Reported by “Real People” like us, who didn’t “just” report the news, they “lived” the news, they “felt” the news so we could “feel” the news too!

But soon it became not enough to report with “feeling” to also report what the reporter was feeling about what was reported, because, again, we wanted our news to come from “real” people, like us, so that we could “relate” to what was being reported, and that, of course, has lead us to where we are today...

We no long trust the MSM we created because it became exactly like us; opinionated. And some of those opinions some of us disagree with, so we claim they have “an agenda”, and that makes them (the opinions we disagree with) sinister.

And through all this, the nature of communications has changed drastically.

There was a time when newspapers were printed, at most, twice a day (very few and generally only in the largest cities: London, NYC, Los Angeles). Most only published once a day.

TV and radio stations “signed” on air in the early morning, and signed off each night shortly after midnight.

But the public no longer reads newspapers like they used to, and TV and radio has had to expand their content to fill the 24/7 news cycle the global community now demands.

Information had become, like so much of our society, monetized.

We no longer discuss movies without noting the “box office” of the latest release. As if gross receipts are somehow equivalent to the social significance of a cinematic work of art.

When Everything is valued based on how much money it produces, and every other metric becomes, at best, secondary, then yes, the “info-tianment industry”, as it has become (again, at our demand) has two goals

1.) Earn as much as it can, to survive, since how else are we to determine its value to our society.

2.) Induce as many people as possible to access its outlet in order to earn as much as it can, because, see #1.

The MSM could not care less about influencing your opinion

Except to the extent that your opinion draws you to and keeps you coming back to whatever particular outlet you choose.

The MSM is nothing more than a mirror which we have created to reflect our own images.

Don’t blame the media if what you see in that mirror isn’t always to your liking.



posted on Sep, 2 2018 @ 01:38 AM
link   
I was one of those kids who watched the news w/ grandpa at dinner time.
National (network) news used to give you a good half/half overview of national and international goings on. Local news, at least in my Chicago/Indianapolis reception area, used to give local weather warnings, crime news, and usually seem focused on local events like a fundraiser dinner, etc. - things someone local would want to know.

Now, I watch news on a streamer (Roku), and CBSN is mainly Trump administration crap. I voted for the guy, but c'mon already. I expect the MSM to start complaining that he drinks Italian wine instead of Californian. It's that, (currently) McCain, and the latest shooting, in a loop. When they do International, it's Putin, War, and Brexit. It's like they don't realize there's other things going on that viewers WANT to hear about.



posted on Sep, 2 2018 @ 01:41 AM
link   
a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha

It's a two headed beast, and beast it be with or without the two faces it uses to beguile us. It spawns children, children of the beast who argue and fight over which teat of information to swallow, hook, line, and sinker.



posted on Sep, 2 2018 @ 01:46 AM
link   
a reply to: Bhadhidar

Awesome post! Thanks, bud



posted on Sep, 2 2018 @ 02:10 AM
link   

originally posted by: NarcolepticBuddha
a reply to: Bhadhidar

Awesome post! Thanks, bud



Thank You!

It has been said that Life is a banquet and most poor fools are starving to death.

But, by the same token, it is important to learn that “All You Can Eat” does not mean “Eat It ALL!”.

You paid for this meal, go ahead and ignore the Brussels sprouts if you want to, it’s your choice.



posted on Sep, 2 2018 @ 06:25 AM
link   
a reply to: Bhadhidar

well said there. I only disagree with one point. The media is absolutely trying to influence our opinions. If it was only about money and ratings, networks that have ratings that are in free fall would change course, or try something new to get new viewers, and we do not see this.


edit on am99201818America/Chicago02p06am by annoyedpharmacist because: typos



posted on Sep, 2 2018 @ 07:28 AM
link   
a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha

I agree, the network news is a farce! It is nothing more than reality TV with paid actors who create drama out of nothing for the sake of selling advertisements. However, I think you have to look deeper than just the network news...

Ask yourself this; how many people in today's society choose to spend an evening reading some classic literature, versus how many choose to sit down and watch Real Housewives of Beverly Hills while they Instagram / Facebook their friends? There are far more in the latter category than the former.



posted on Sep, 2 2018 @ 07:38 AM
link   
a reply to: annoyedpharmacist

It's actually a vicious circle, but you have to look back at history to see it. At its foundation the "news" was an alternative voice to the proclamations of the elite being read from the Town Hall steps. In the beginning papers only charged to cover costs, but in time it became a business (i.e. advertisements). This philosophy steadily grew until it became an empire of profit rivaling the elite themselves. In other words, the media became the very elite they were created to oppose.

Now we switch to the other part of the vicious circle, advertising. In order for advertisers to be attracted enough to spend money on advertising they need to have the reasonable belief that spending money to advertise will result in people buying their product. If they don't, they won't advertise. Conservatives are far less likely to be influenced by advertising than the more liberal population, consequently the media naturally leans in the direction which will result in the most advertising revenue. It's a self-created bias, and it's not "news", but rather just more advertising (albeit much more subtle).

At the end of the day it's called...Social Engineering.



posted on Sep, 2 2018 @ 11:43 AM
link   
a reply to: Bhadhidar



Don’t blame the media if what you see in that mirror isn’t always to your liking.


I thought for sure you would end your post with ''Don't blame the media if what you see in that mirror is yourself.''

Your reply above should be recommended reading for our members here. Most seem to have forgotten, or never really knew this main angle of the msm question.

Back in days gone when older liberals would decry the state of the media and it's advertising engine that reply you gave was the standard conservative/business rebuttal, '' But it's what the consumer wants''. Same goes for the other programming, the mind drivel of nightly '''entertainment'' the inane sitcoms telling people when to laugh, the violent shows, the shows making the FBI always out to be the '' good guys'' kind of stuff. ''What the consumer wants''

In any event Bhad, best media post I have read here in a long while.
Thanks.



posted on Sep, 2 2018 @ 07:26 PM
link   
What is interesting to me, is how the alt-right convinced themselves that FOX news is no longer considered the hated "MSM".

I seen it slowly start with Alex Jones of infowars. In the days of Bush, they had no love of FOX news and alex himself was against Bush. Yet, once obama took office, I slowly started to see a rise in hard-right conservative christian articles.

Then I started seeing FOX news articles, and once Trump took power, forget about it. FOX is no longer the hated MSN, they are part of the pro-trump underground, or w/e the alt-right is now.

Basically, the anti-mainstream became mainstream and now are just full of themselves. I think thats why so many refuse to question Trump, they think he is somehow one of them. Not a born billiionaire, with tons of political friends and agendas.

edit on 2-9-2018 by blueman12 because: (no reason given)







 
7

log in

join