Does anybody here believe anything they read in the main stream media?

The mainstream media is what keeps me going....I buy the Sun paper everyday and turn to page 3 for the breast news...I mean best news.....

The ATS user Melen has a thread open just now that is relevant to this.
Sometimes the facts don`t matter

I personally do glance at the MSM because I do think there is a lot of fact in there, but it`s truth is shrouded in a lot of lies I believe, but I can`t accept anything as pure fact as I am never the one out on the field to actually find out the facts, this would be nigh on impossible.

Agencies like CNN are ridiculously emotive when reporting certain things, not the hallmark of professional journalism at all.

I think the BBC is probably the best with regards to journalistic standard as they just read the story without emotive bias, unlike CNN where the very theatrical tone of the reporter can influence naive listener`s opinion and thus sway public opinion and gather support or dissent regarding the topic at hand.

At the end of the day it`s foolish to accept that water boils at 100degrees C without first finding out for yourself through empiricism what temperature the water boils at.
This isn`t really possible when it comes to the multitude of information/disinformation coming at us from MSM, so really the only thing left is to use MSM and alternate media and blogs etc and see what correlates.

I think Iv`e drifted somewhat from the OP, but it`s all relevant I think, and the OP question isn`t really one that can just be answered yes or no.

I think the correct term is " The Mainstream Propaganda Machine"

We only see what the powers that be want us to see. More often than not we are spoon fed insignificant stories about controversy and revelation to keep us ticking over. I would love just once to pick up a paper and not find a story about a celebrity on the front page as headline news... who cares if Cheryl Cole has Malaria? so does millions of other people but I dont see them on the front page pfffft

There are far greater things going on in the world that we should be reading in the media but heaven forbid we may become educated enough in world events to start demanding change or questioning governments. No they are quite right our eyes are best left closed :S

Because of the ever-increasing narrowing of the gap between journalists and the news-makers, I tend to be suspicious of everything from the mainstream media, including the major newspapers and the television news. They don't print lies, per se, but they are so close to the newsmakers that what they do print is so biased that its one-sidedness is cause for suspicion because it doesn't present all the facts. Not that journalism was ever totally free from bias, but the gap used to be so far apart that what you did read was trustworthy and the bits that could be counted as bias could be screened out with little taint to the overall picture. Worse, today's journalists consistently fail to seek those facts and simply accept what newsmakers say on the face of it. The original intent was that they were watchdogs on government and advocates for us. Now they are watchdogs on us and advocates for government. I cannot make an informed decision from what they present, therefore none of it is worth my time.

I read them like I read ATS, with a very large pinch of salt.

Sometimes ATS seems more tabloid than most real tabloids.