Once again, just wondering.

[lisamoe]

So I was talking to a friend this weekend about Jesse's news habit, (i.e., he gets up in the morning and watches the news before I get up) and how I was a little worried because some of the news is kind of disturbing, but he really seems to want to know what's going on, so I allow it. I said it wasn't surprising though, because while I don't enjoy the regular TV news, I do listen to NPR news a lot during the day, I check political blogs and online news sites daily, I watch the "fake news" Daily Show and Colbert Report and I read a couple of weekly mainstream news magazines. I have always felt like I needed to have at least a basic understanding of what's going on in the world beyond my own front door. And when someone does want to talk politics or current events, I hate to be at a complete loss.

I know that a number of my friends and acquaintances who are otherwise educated people just don't pay attention to the news much and I wonder why. Is it a feeling that what's out in the wider world doesn't have enough impact on one's own life that it's worth bothering about? Or is it just that it's too disturbing and people just don't want to know about it, or feel they'd have to take some action if they did? Or is it just boring, the kind of stuff you once had to know for class but are now free to ignore?

I don't consider myself a news junkie by any means and there's lots of stuff I'm not up on despite trying to stay minimally informed, but I can usually recall a little about the major presidential candidates, some basic info about Darfur, maybe a little about interesting Supreme Court decisions of the last few years or recent natural disasters or what's happening in Iraq. That sort of thing, you know?

So here's my question...Do you keep up with the news in any significant way? Even reading whatever articles go with the headlines that pop up on Yahoo or Google when you open them? Or are you a total news junkie? Or do you just not bother and if you don't, do you ever have the feeling you should care more about what's going on out there or do you feel better when you don't know?

Comments

[angel-ent.livejournal.com]

I ususally keep up with the national news on a daily basis - but hardly ever watch the local news, so I never know when it's going to rain. But I think it's a basic responsibility of most adults to at least know what's happening in the world today. *shrug* Of course, I also have a kiddo that likes to watch the news and discuss politics - so who am I to talk?

[a-spirited-soul.livejournal.com]

I don't know for sure why I'm not into the news. I think there could be several reasons, most likely a combination.

1)I don't necessarily trust news sources to give unbiased reports, so I don't know what to believe, 2)i have enough stress in my life w/o adding regional and worldwide news 3)I feel like my brain will explode if it actually has to think outside of work (see stress above), 4)I really don't watch tv much, so I don't see the news on tv 5) my dad was a news junkie and I think there could be some slight rebellion

I try to catch the weather in the morning, but how often is that correct? I do peruse the headlines on yahoo and msn and see if anything catches my attn.

[mamaduck.livejournal.com]

I've got to have news! I read the newspaper every day, if at all possible, and I read TIME and NEWSWEEK. If there's news that I want more information on, I use the computer to find out more. I used to rely on tv for a lot of news-- primarily CNN, because it ran 24 hours a day and I could watch whenever I wanted to-- but lately CNN has quit running news and switched over to tabloid stories and interviewers screaming at people. I've had a hard time finding anything else to replace CNN, particularly in the time slots I want to watch, and it's very frustrating...

[lisamoe.livejournal.com]

It's probably where I got the habit. Dad always seems reasonably well informed, but I don't recall seeing him reading the paper or news magazines as much as I do you.

[teevnus.livejournal.com]

I started to comment yesterday, but I was distracted by something on the news. I used to be a CNN junkie, but I need a faster fix these days. RSS feeds from NPR, the BBC, DailyKOS, NewScientist, Science, The Smoking Gun, and The Onion. Headline scans on Yahoo! and local news on my homepage from all three network stations and the Tulsa World. I also get the World hardcopy on the weekends. Additionally, I listen to NPR when I'm alone in the car (as does Bea, but we don't listen together - haven't figured that one out.) I do not watch any of the local stations anymore (unless weather is actively bad) - I get my weather report straight from the National Weather Service. I'm also thinking about dropping the World weekend because over 50% of it are the stories I read online before I got out of bed.

[lisamoe.livejournal.com]

I don't think I said above, but I read the Tulsa World website every day, just to see if we're getting any new "temporary" taxes or whatever. I probably get most of my news online at DailyKos, headlines from the news I pull in at my Google homepage, and I look in at the Drudge report because he always has a lot of links. The only TV news I see is the fake news, which is actually pretty good news if you filter the humor part out. And then there's Morning Edition and Talk of the Nation (depending on the subject) and All Things Considered and BBC World Service, which I really like for international news. Gee, no wonder I don't get any fiction read anymore...

[mstami.livejournal.com]

Stress! Frankly, I can't take any more stress in my life. When I was in my twenties I watched the local and the national news daily. I listened to NPR. I even read the Sunday paper. I tried to stay informed. I stopped all that in my early thirties.

My problem is that I feel I should be doing more then I am able to do. That's frustrating, and stress inducing for me.

[tapestry01.livejournal.com]

Every day, I check CNN, Reuters, DailyKos, Weather Underground, BBC, and MSNBC. I don't read every story, but I do like to know what's going on.