This is not a question of overstated paranoia. I ask because recently I've been watching their stuff and I kind of like them. I normally am against using mainstream stuff. I would consider them to be pretty trustworthy for the most part. The only shows I see most people having a problem with are UFOhunters, and, Mythbusters (for the RFID thing, and, for obvious reasons). I just seem to be able to trust them a bit and I usually am not able to say that about much mainstream stuff. I was wondering how trustworthy you think that they are. I just thought I'd ask the question here.

Are they trustworthy in the sense that they won't intentionally misrepresent the facts? Then yes. The History Channel is trustworthy in that respect.

Are they trustworthy in the sense that they would not unintentionally misrepresent the facts? Then no. This History Channel is not trustworthy in that respect.

The subject of History, is well...subjective. It is the story told in a Civio-centric way. Facts are conveniently glossed over or ignored all the time in History Books and the History Channel is no different in that respect.

Would they claim that the Pilgrims were the first Settlers in America. You bet they would because most of their fact-finders would buy into that myth that is perpetuated in many seemingly credible sources. It's not an intentional mistake on their part, it's just that they aren't going to dig deep enough to find out about the settlement at Roanoke being the first Settlers in America.

So, you'll get a story, but not necessarily the whole story...but it will be truthful as far as they know it is.

And as far as Mythbusters, they aren't entirely scientific in their methods. There have been a lot of Myths they have "busted" that I can prove in my own house are actually true. There are times that there is clearly bias on their parts when they want to debunk something, that they don't consider alternative (and simpler) ways that it can be done. That's not quite the fault of the History Channel, but it is a fault I personally have found time and time again with Mythbusters. Alas, they are only human. They can't be right all the time!

I stopped watching them when they started airing all the christian stuff about finding Noas ark, the plaques in the bible being real and explainable, the garden of Eden, etc.

I think it's a trash channel that can no longer make money airing black and white rerun footage of WWII and Nazi Germany.

What ever happened to TLC? They use to have tons of cool programs on about science and technology. Now it's the home improvement and gardening network.

Unless you are watching CSPAN, then EVERYTHING else you see on TV is for entertainment purposes only. Everything has an angle, a slant or agenda behind it. Mostly the agenda is to draw ratings.

Just my 2-cents

All the media is a device to misinform you - and to give you an opinion. Watch it if you enjoy it - but I would always be asking - why are they telling me this?

Additionally - follow up anything of interest with some books, or study on the net. You are likely to find that history is not black and white - but rather it is shades of grey - without both sides of an argument, you have propaganda.

They're just as trustworthy as the people who speak on their shows.

I think it's probably around 75%. I've heard some stuff on the History Channel that I doubt.

But I still want to be interviewed by them one day.

Aw, double post. Sorry.

[edit on 7/24/2009 by ravenshadow13]

They put the knowledge out there. They put these ideas/theories/beliefs/what have you, out there because it grabs people. It's scary, informative, thrilling, relieveing, etc all rolled into one. This brings ratings.
With that, comes the educational aspect. The 'unkown' category of shows on History is just as much based on what we know/believe to be true as everything else we are educated about. The only problem is that there can only be so much information from a certain amount of people in one time-slot.
This brings us back to ratings. The disaster stuff is a lot more interesting than the "everything is a-ok" stuff. That's why they give people with the "radical" ideas more time in the slot than they do the skeptics...
It all comes down to make up your own mind. Which people do. Unfortuntaley most of those people consider themselves well-informed. To be truly informed, one must do research to collect correct and viable information from only identifiable reputable sources.
In short, don't necessarily believe everything that you see, but don't disbelieve it either. Take the proper steps to obtain the most plausible info, then decide what to keep and what to throw out.

I would agree with some of the other posters, the History Channel does seem to have a Christian agenda but nothing wrong with that if your Christian.

HMMM I DONT THINK THE History channel is in favour of christians though they have aired a few christian programs and in which case was more in favour of finding actual facts through the myths of the bible.
One case involves the Exodus and who the pharoah might have been and when it occured. The evidence they produced contridicted that of the biblical scholars and gave plausable evidence to suggest that the exodus happened when a cataclysmic eruption of the volcano on the Greek island of Santorini occured around 1500bc. They also gave plausible theories as to why the 10 plagues happend that came about through the eruption.
They have also aired stuff on the islam religion buddism etc all without any bias.
Also the majority of the programming is commissioned by the history channel they do cooperate with other established production companies.

So to answer the question Is the History Channel trustworthy? I would say yes but always have an open mind as new evidence or even a different perspective can change history dramitically.

Originally posted by itsmuch2late
I would agree with some of the other posters, the History Channel does seem to have a Christian agenda but nothing wrong with that if your Christian.

I don't think a Christian would really enjoy their investigating shows that deal with Christianity. Most of those take God out of the equation and come up with a scientific explanation for the events.

As described by the poster above me.

If they had a religous agenda then it would be against the beliefs of Christianity.

The History Channel is a great channel. Like with all television stations some are rubbish and others a great. For example.

UFO Hunters and Monster Quest or trash.

Wild West tech and the documentaries they show are great.

The question should be...Do you trust the conglomerate that OWNS the History Channel which is GENERAL ELECTRIC? (Disney also owns a small share as well)

NBC, MSNBC, NBC Sports, CNBC, A&E, bio Channel, Bravo, USA, Sci Fi, Universal HD, Hulu, Universal Pictures, and several TV stations around the country.

Other GE Holdings are:
GE Aircraft Engines
GE Commercial Finance
GE Consumer Products
GE Industrial Systems
GE Insurance
GE Medical Systems
GE Plastics
GE Power Systems
GE Specialty Materials
GE Transportation Systems

So the answer IMO would be NO, I do not trust GE to necessarily tell me the truth about anything. They have their claws in a lot of things that the average person needs from day to day.

TV is useless and a waste of money. If you love sports then maybe it's worth it for you. I cut my cable off. I can find shows online now with broadband. I can get more information from online now then I could ever get from tv. TV will eventually die with the increase in bandwidth. The higher the speeds the weaker all these broadcasters will become.

I'm not paying $50 for basic cable when 95% of the channels are made up of either shopping,church,music, and reality shows.

Never forget the fact that history is (supposedly) written by the victors....

Isn't the History channel Ted Turners version of the truth? Like Discovery and Learning, etc? Not to mention CNN now that I think of it?