If We Don’t Watch The News How Do We Know Who To Vote For?
Election? What Election?
I was in the US a couple of weeks ago. On my taxi ride to the airport I asked the driver about all the political posters displayed on at least every third doorstep. “Sure, we have elections coming up” he told me (but I thought you’d just had elections I mused silently?). And he went on to explain his political independence and how he would decide nearer the time which party he was going to vote for. He was valuable to both sides he laughed.
Don’t Watch The News
In the bubble that is internet business, I’ve noticed a trend – a trend advising us to turn off the news. News is depressing, it’s full of negativity and it will drag us down. In the last couple of weeks three highly respected marketers I follow and two I work with have told me this in phone calls and blog posts.
When I first heard this advice I thought, OK I can see the logic in that, no need to expose myself to the violence and devastation in the world. It kinda made sense.
But later that day I was watching the evening news and I thought back to this advice. Did it really make sense?
I live in the UK. Our government is announcing serious budget reductions. Deeper cuts than we have faced since the period following World War I according to some commentators.
The news is full of discussion about which budgets will be slashed: will it be health administration down by 46%, will it be the de-commissioning of aircraft carriers, raising retirement age, removing free bus passes for the elderly, tripling university tuition fees, cutting child benefit, business support budgets, scrapping of non-governmental organisations, cuts to the monster budget of out-of-work welfare and disability. Probably most of the above if we’re being realistic about it!
But whatever the politics, what really struck me, watching the news that day, was whether those who argue so strongly to turn off the news had thought this through?
Do Watch The News!
If I didn’t watch the news how would I know what was going on? And if I didn’t know this then how would I hold the government accountable? And so on.
As a business owner, a mum, a user of the health-care services, I want to be able to listen to news that affects me. And maybe even influence it if I can.
Last week the EU voted on extensions to paid maternity leave. Even if this doesn’t affect you and your business directly, right now, then who do you think is going to pay for our care as we age? At least in Europe with the vestige of a social welfare system where we still rely on future generations of taxpayers!
And I have a teenage son. I want to teach him how to interpret what he reads and sees around him. Who is saying what in the news and how do they say it. What do they really mean? Second hand stories just don’t come close.
Sure, I don’t want him to watch the drivel that some channels and so called ‘news’-papers churn out. I want him to be able to differentiate. And so can we.
Even those marketers who are telling me to turn the news off completely have a choice. Are things really so bad that we need to turn off everything?
And so, recalling the conversation with my American taxi driver, as I read and listen to my mentors telling me to turn off the news coverage, I wonder: If you don’t watch the news how do you know who to vote for?
I’d love to know what you think about this. Should be shut ourselves off from negativity or should we follow what’s going on? Is there a happy medium? Is it entertainment or civic duty? Please leave a comment below!
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I’m an American, and I’ll give you my perspective.
I think it’s better to READ news from thoughtful sources, rather than watch TV. Television news – if you can call it that – has become screaming, talking heads, rather than neutral, thoughtful commentators. I certainly won’t claim that written news isn’t also rife with partisanship, but I think the ability to closely review the choice of words that comes with reading gives a person an opportunity to understand what lens that news is being viewed through.
Television news is sensationalist. And while written news can read like a tabloid, I think that making an effort to find more legitimate news sources can provide a person with the proper knowledge and perspectives. My favorite source is the New York Times. But I know it views the world through a liberal lens. I take that into consideration. I also source information from right-leaning sources such as the Wall Street Journal. (When I’ve tried to read articles at FoxNews.com it comes across as so preposterously slanted that it may as well be equated to The Onion).
As I often say about political issues: nothing will ever be perfect, but we can have better. I think that applies well-enough to news sources, as well.
Hey Brandon,
that’s a great point and you have a great tradition of print newspapers in the US (I’m ashamed to say we probably have some of the worst in the world in the UK!!).
And I think your final point applies REALLY well to business – it will never be perfect but we just need to take intentional action one step at a time!
All the best
Cathy
I think it’s smart to stay updated as to what is going on in the world, in your country, in your province, in your city and even neighbourhood. I think that if you don’t, do you vote? And if you do vote and don’t stay on top of what’s going on, what are you voting for, right? But I also think that you should be careful what you hear and have read in the media. We have to remember that everything will be bias whether we like it or not. So, I think that backing up information you’ve heard or read about by doing a bit more research on your own could go along way. During elections I see more campaign bashing then I see information as to what the parties are going to do about certain situations. This is not helpful, so research is a must. I also think that we need to stop indulging ourselves in news that’s not news at all…like how Angelina and Brad parent, or how Ms. Lohan got caught drinking and driving AGAIN…this isn’t news, these aren’t people that affect my life nor should they really affect anyones life, other then themselves and their families…but if they were regular people, they wouldn’t be on the news.
Remember the day when newspapers were mainly small fine print with no photos, but LOTS of information? Well, now the font has doubled in size, there’s biased photos everywhere and more ads then news. A little tabloidy or magaziney. So, I do think it’s important to stay on top of things, but I also think it’s important to be weary of what we read and hear about along with where we get the information from. Read a few articles on the same topic by different journalists, and read opinions too. It’s amazing how easy your opinion can be swayed with the right words!
Hi Heather,
I totally agree about the bias but when I listen to my mum reporting back what she’s read in her preferred newspaper… well you can imagine! I guess when I think about my son I want to reduce the layers of bias and teach him how NOT to believe everything he sees and reads! Like the idea of reading a few different sources.
Thanks for taking the time to comment, I REALLY appreciate it.
Cathy
Hi Cathy!
I hear this all the time too! But I can definitely see both perspectives – and I’m not quite sure where I fall yet.
I don’t watch the news myself, mostly just because I didn’t grow up watching it, and it just never became a habit. There are other things I would much rather do.
But at the same time, I know that there’s a lot going on in my city, my country and the world that I don’t know anything about BECAUSE I don’t follow the news. Most of the time I don’t feel like I’m missing out – but I still sometimes wonder if I should keep up on things a little more….
So I don’t have a definitive answer on this one… it’s something I’m still working through myself….
Hi Jess,
Oh I don’t read as much as I used to – I remember fondly those days when I had the time and energy to go through a newspaper! No longer
I like it when I go on holiday and take a complete media break but then I get a bit twitchy if I don’t know what’s going on for too long. You work through this at your own pace
Cathy
Cathy,
Thanks for taking a stand. I really dislike listening to the litany of depravity and depressing news that comes our way every day. I try to focus on positivity whenever I can. I need to protect myself from the overabundant reporting of salacious gossip and depressing situations in which I have no power to take action.
But I totally agree with you that as grownups and a citizens of the world, we do have the responsibility to know and understand what is happening in our world. We can’t hide our heads in the sand and ignore the darkness. If we do, how will we know when it is time to take a stand?
What would have happened if the world had turned off the news when Hitler was marching across Europe? How would we have known and be able to react to the devastation caused by the tsunami in SE Asia? How would I have known that they were talking about building a toxic waste incinerator on delta farmland, beside a major bird sanctuary, less than 5 km from my home?
Thanks for sharing your skill a critical thinker and highlighting the flip-side of turning off the news. There’s good and bad in that simple advice and we don’t always take the time to winnow through the necessary distinctions.
Hi Anne!
I think this was what got me thinking in the first place – it seemed so plausible to ‘be positive’ and steer clear of negative influences but then when I really thought about it I came back to your point – there really is no absolute ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ here (like with so much hey?!).
We need to be choosy but we also need to be informed (or so I believe).
Thank you for your kind words and thoughtful comment
Cathy
It’s the happy medium for me. Filter it out is what I always say. If you don’t think a headline is going to do you any good or you won’t enjoy it, just don’t read. Still, temper your choice with what you might need to read. I think of it as medicine, unpleasant but necessary. Brandon and others have a healthy balance here. The bird sanctuary issue is especially near and dear to me as a bird owner who knows how fragile their little lungs are.
Hi Tony, I completely agree with you – it’s all about balance – as with so much!
All the best
Cathy
Hi Cathy:
I think the difference is it is very hard to find decent, thoughtful commentary on the TV in the US. My American husband used to watch the Sunday political shows here faithfully every week until I told him they were comedies masquerading as serious comment.
I find the mainstream US news to be sensationalist and lightweight and UK news to be depressing and often scary (the way the newsreaders lower their voices and the more graphic content enabled in the UK is scary to me anyway.)
I think reading is the way to go and reading from multiple sources. Again I draw from my experience of moving to the US from the UK – when I read papers from both countries it was amazing how different the same story could be presented.
I also, strangely enough, review what my friends share on Facebook. I have friends all over the political spectrum and I like to read what is important to them.
I love that Alison – just imagining Huw Edwards (he’s the BBC ‘anchorman’ on the evening news) in a Dracula costume!
I guess the conclusion is that none of the news reporting is perfect and we just need to find and filter the sources that suit us best.
Thanks!
Cathy
Hi Cathy, I don’t vote so I apologize if this makes my opinion exempt.
As a PI (politically ignorant) person, my problem with the news both locally here in Manila and internationally is that it’s not just sensationalist but it’s distracting and clipboard-ish.
What I mean by this is that I can go to any of the news’ main websites and I’d know what’s the news already from the headlines without reading it and every other news are mostly subjects you can do nothing about or subjects trying to generate some pathos. (setting aside things like sport results, horoscopes, etc.)
On the other hand, there’s rarely a pot of information at the end of the articles. If you bother to click and read the articles, 99% of the non-historical articles are just updates. Even if there’s a hotline, address or roadmap to a solution – it often stems from a major “front page” disaster having already happened.
Don’t take me wrong. I do watch the news and I don’t follow my own advise but I believe we’re better off “skimming” and “cable surfing” the news for a bit and then taking a bit of our time trying to Google a historically relevant issue related to the news and we (as in the common person who only cares about politics during elections) might be more informed than a guy who spends the entire month watching and reading and following all the recent “updates” happening in the news regardless whether it be from a good source or bad.
I’d also like to point out that the elephant in the room is the voting process. In America you have things like the independents flip flopping and retrying the Republicans after the Democrats seem to have failed them worse. Over here we have situations like the materials aren’t delivered on time so not only are the elections postponed for a day but the same old same old issue of some voters not being able to get in while others have to be patient “if they really want to vote” rears up.
This disregards the issue of wedge issue voters and the lack of equal opportunity for candidates to be exposed unless both are supported by rich backers. (Setting aside the rare “hero of the masses”) When we combine all these other indirect issues, not only are people who keep up with the news still uninformed because of the lack of roadmap to contextify their votes beyond their favorite issues but the more you engage in the process of voting the more you’re exposed to the negativity of corrupt politics unless you cover it up with blissful idealism especially on the Federal level. (You could even say the sensationalistic mainstream media are the ones who instill in us the positive motivation to constantly come out and vote every election despite their negative-instilling headlines)
I do believe this situation can be “alleviated” though if we not only know how to surround ourselves with not only the right people who align with our political views but we also know where to find the right people who go “against” our political views. The original Tea Party before they were associated with the likes of Sarah Palin came close to doing this on a country scale in America and it’s catalysts the Ron Paul Revolutionaries (especially prior to all the spamming) changed the landscape in such a manner that for a while during the primaries if you went and read the comments of any Ron Paul article vs. his opponents – it was voter informative galore. People who loved him discuss his political issues more. People who hated him discuss his political issues too. Most of the wedge issue commentors got shot down or re-contextified. (Especially with the Christians who were finally glad someone didn’t wore their religion on his sleeve.)
The energy was ecstactic and the only candidate that came close to generating the same issue was Obama and even there it was limited to the trending issues, not historical government changing issues such as amendments in the Constitution, the Austrian vs. Keynesian view of the Gold Standard, Libertarian vs. Republican, Republican vs. Neo-Conservative – even so far as people going out of their way to check the voting fraud and calling out the mainstream news on their hypocrisy. I didn’t even know what a brokered convention was until I lurked on some of those topics.
Hi Marv –
Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment. I think the issues you have raised are really interesting. Maybe we in the UK and the US take it for granted that there is a democratic process and fair reporting of news – even though the quality is variable
I don’t know your part of the world but I’ve lived in Africa and I have seen the sort of issues that you talk about first hand so I can understand your aversion to the voting process.
Just the fact that we can communicate with each other across the globe is a huge contribution to openness I think?
All the best to you
Cathy
You can find out all the news you need watching 3-4 times per week and skimming the headlines on a daily basis in case something has happened that needs immediate thought or attention.
As for avoiding all negativity… personally, I think that’s ridiculous. We don’t need to constantly dwell on the negative, but if we ignore it, how will it ever be addressed? If everyone had stuck their heads in the sand over, say, Haiti– would money have been raised to help? If we don’t pay attention to what’s going on in the Sudan, how can we press our elected officials to make a difference there?
So, don’t ignore the news and the negative, but be committed to making a positive change. If you see there was a fire that destroyed apartments in your area, see if there’s something you can do to help. If you see welfare services are being cut and some are going to go without, take a trip to your local food bank and volunteer to help out or to make a donation.
To be slightly cliched– don’t avoid the dark, be the light.
Hi Jill,
Completely agree – we don’t need to stick our heads in the sand in order to stay positive.
And the public response to the Haiti earthquake and going back a bit Hurricane Katrina was fantastic and a wonderful way to restore faith in humanity (even though I’m sure we would rather they hadn’t happened!)
Thanks for taking the time to respond
Cathy
I think I could write a book on this topic. Voting is an honor, privilege and responsibility therefore we must be aware of what is transpiring. That being said, I don’t think our media is doing the best job of informing us. We must take the initiative and investigate for ourselves.
I know those who vote straight party lines, I know those who vote for the popular person, I know those who vote for the same person their loved ones vote for and I also know those who do not vote at all. All these sadden me. People have died for us to have the freedom to vote- what would they say to us if they knew how precariously we treat such liberty?
I pray more will be responsible and make an educated vote.
That’s a good blog post, Cathy, and has fired up a few people.
Here are a couple of thoughts:
1) The main aim of many (perhaps most, though not all) politicians is to remain popular and stay in the front carriage of the gravy train they’re on.
2) Remember that politicians spend more time cultivating the media than actually doing anything useful, so NEVER believe the spin on what you read/see on the surface.
3) Try to think what’s behind the story: Who said it? Why? What’s their motive?
4) Then most important of all, THINK for yourself.
Hope this helps
Dr Bob Gough recently posted… Vega Launch – Europe’s Newest Satellite Launcher
Great debate Cathy!
I’m a huge fan of Darren Hardy, editor in chief of Success Magazine and motivational speaker. He says in his book, The Compound Effect, that we should stop listening to the news on the car radio. Instead we should use our time in the car to learn stuff which matters.
The average person spends over 300 hours in their car each year. That’s enough time to get a college degree! So he suggests we listen to audio books on the areas where we want to learn.
I totally agree with him. I find the news so depressing and so often skewed.
I keep up with the news which is relevant to me via the social media networks and I use Google Reader where I subscribe to the “news” I want to listen to.
Yes, I can see both sides, but in most cases, the news reports stuff which has already happened. I love Twitter because I often get to hear the news as it happens, in real time and from multiple perspectives. I much prefer this.
Just a quick glance at the Trending Topics on Twitter can alert us to a big news item.
I hear your point, but much of the stuff you mention about child benefit and aircraft cuts are going to happen anyway. Yes, the child benefit affects me but I don’t want to listen to all about it on the news. It’s like so many things in life – it’s not the news which is so important but how we choose to react to it.
If you listen to the news – you might get depressed! Instead, if you listen to Daren Hardy or Tony Robbins or Jim Rohn, you’re way more likely to have a fantastic day!