Junk news making you sick?

How does Fox news meet the requirements?

The "news" doesn't report on anything useful and just gives us the opinions of others, who of course are biased. I told someone the other day to turn off the opinion. I hate being maniulated, and filled with mindless drivle

You could've highlighted any of the news stations at this point. The media is a joke, news as we understand it isn't news, its a slap stick comedy bent on selling things you don't need and entertainment for the lowest common denominator.

With so many sources for current events & information -namely the internet--the days of too much media power in too few hands is hopefully gasping for its last breath by now-even the FCC won’t be able to resuscitate them. Fox & the rest of TV news screws seems more like choreographed entertainment where inquisitors & “extorters” help fuel issues that bring polarized groups out in front of cameras & voila a news story is born! That is of course, if there is no EXCLUSIVE breaking news covering celebrity updates, breathlessly brought to us like the world will end if we don’t know who’s in rehab now.

After I stopped watching & reading the handful of major news providers on Nov 2, 2004, my basic understanding & awareness of the people, places & events of our nation & the world expanded far beyond the requisite packaged evening news, given the amount of websites and handful of TV & radio news sources offering a spectrum of viewpoints that most people can now easily access.

We now have far more control of how we obtain the news going on all around the world, the nation and our own communities by deciding how & from which sources we obtain it. And thanks to sites & channels like CURRENT, an eager audience & the momentum from the power of information, we can interpret & question what is really going on instead of just being told by so-called reputable sources & accepting it without a second thought. Filtering out what information directly effects us on a daily basis & our lives in general can be a great equalizer in a world of many controlled by too few.

this is a debate just like pornography. what is genuine news to one, might be junk to another. this is why i only watch current and the bbc. i wish people would stop complaining about these things, you choose what to watch and what not to watch, so you could turn it off more easily then complaining to the fcc. personally, there are bigger problems i would like our goverment to focus on, that tv thing i can take care of myself.

its sad to think that they are hindering free speach...

to say. that those who are not bona fide must provide an equal ground for all candidates is such bs...

if the person on the show feels you suck and the other person rocks.. they have the right to say it.. its their opinion. so.. tough luck... you probably deserved it.

guh.. hole thing is givin me an ulcer.

I vote we get rid of all news except local stations and, of course, Current TV.

The media is a bunch of lies and ridiculous stories about which celebrity got a DUI this week.

WTF. I don't know what is wrong with people today... I don't know rather it's the media or the government,... but I truly believe one of them is trying to brainwash us and take over the world. *sigh*

i personally don't think that "junk" news belongs on the actual news channels. I think if people want to waste their time watching stories about the "important people" they should tune into the E or something about gossip. i don't care about celebrities unless they are changing the world for the better. last year when the whole anna nicole thing erupted i got so angry with the news casters..still talking about her several months later. all in all, keep the crap to the gossip channels.

Well, in lamest terms, the shows do fit the definition of the term, "news," in that it's "information not previously known." And let's face it, whether we loathe it or love it, we're attracted to it, and it's the audience reaction that shows its "value" in society, and further perpetuates the creation of kind of "newscast."

Some news is very very useful and needed....but I don't care which celebrities are kissing who or who just got busted for a DUI. These news stations think that we want all of this celebrity gossip, but personally, i don't. They need to sort out the diamonds from the dirt.

If the government gave us real news, people would realize how corrupt our government has become and they would start an uprising. So they continue to feed us junk and crap to keep us at check and uninformed. And unfortunately a lot of people in the US have become too naive to realize that they are being brainwashed.

Allow me to relax my fingers once in a while...
Thank you Future_America...............................
The Laser Cannons wil still be vigillantly trained...
DO NOT FORGET..................................................

This si such crap, TMZ are you serious, the only good unbiased news that lets the voice of the common people get heard is NPR.

this video needs to be played on tv immediately!

Junk news is like junk food: You can ingest it or seek an alternative. The choice is yours.

Well hold on here. If it's what America watches ... let me rephrase ... if this is what America stops to watch over things like Bill O'Reilly and Katie Couric because these stories obviously get higher ratings when they're aired ... then how can we not call it news?

Isn't this related to Jon Stewart's popularity over other 'bona-fide' news outlets? The only difference really being is that Stewart's charisma and intelligence makes it look good.

The only reason the 700 club is still playing is because Pat Robertson signed a deal with the devil (so to speak) making it damn near impossible to get it off the air once it's on.

The main stream media is dead. No point getting worked up about it anymore because it's a lost cause. Focus on maintaining net neutrality.

I just don't get it. I know that deregulation may be important to help media companies survive in the digital age, but this kind of deregulation just leads to degeneration of the public discourse. We need to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine, to establish some real standard of journalistic ethics amidst all of these pundits and anchors posing as journalists.

And while it's easy to criticize local television news, it still remains one of the top sources of information for people across the country. And it's important to help people stay informed about the community within which they actually live. So Current is great, but they're never going to talk about the issues that happen in most people's backyards.

It was actually Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation who said that TV did not exist beyond, I think it was AD 2060? Anyone? Bueller? If that is true, we still have 52 years left. Erm okay. :þ

I read the newspaper. And I don't have to read the same stories for weeks straight, like Iraq and other major cases, considering they usually have their own section. Important news on the front page and the rest is just for people's fancy.

Hmm. I never did like watching and listening to someone tell me things. I rather read and make my own opinions about what's going on. Because if I want to read an opinion, I'll go to the Editorial and Opinion section of the newspaper. Otherwise? Straight facts.

Maybe I'm just old-fashioned.

Something tells me that there's lot of money changing hands.

I agree 100%.

I can't believe that shit like the Today Show and the O'Reiley Factor are even considered legitimate, respectable news sources by the vast majority of the American public with all the useless tripe they report on, most of which isn't even news.

Video killed the radio star as Internet kills T.V. propoganda. Can I remix the song about it???

Granted we don't get enough of the good stuff, I'm happy that no ones telling me what I should and shouldn't watch, particularly when it comes to journalism and the news. I feel I owe it to myself to stay informed, and not fill my head with garbage info, but I sure am glad that I have the choice to do so.

Bottom feeders on this pond of life

Okay -- add this to the list of 'clean-ups' that Obama will have on his plate when he takes office:

#57 - replace heads of FCC, and make supposed 'news' outlets more accountable to the tenets of good journalism.

journalist today are just overpaid actors who read the news from a telepropter. i dont watch main stream media anymore, they just sit by the fax machine and wait for the news to come from the associated press

PBS and NPR have their own problems, as GWB has control over who sits on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's (CPB) executive board. As a result, longtime supporters, like myself, have noticed a, less than subtle, shift of politics in programming. PBS blames Cable for the need to reel in a more conservative audience. No matter what, it's slowly becoming "Junk PBS". "NPR" will be next.
Okay. Back to topic.
Local news and informational progamming has been hit hardest by Corporate Media takeover as every market is getting cloned copies of whatever the Murdocks of the world want on the air. It's this loss of regional identity that has me troubled the most.
The FCC has no voice of it's own as this administration dictates their every move.
We're just going to have to wait until after January 20th, 2009, to see where this takes us.

Thank the media gods for NPR.

The news consists of rising gas prices, local fairs, politics, rapists, murderers on the loose, school lunch reports.. blah blah blah...mostly redundant useless information. A few weeks ago, a drunk driver almost slammed into me while walking my dog, the only thing between us was a palm tree. About the same time the ambulance got there, there was already a camera crew, shoving their commission cams into the wreckage. I'm sick of hearing about Britney Spears latest vagina shot. Is this what is important to people? Whatever happened to hobbies & reading books? This is why I only watch Current T.V.

Junk News? How about Junk TV???? I had my cable and most all stations stopped - I kept PBS- we have two of those, Hallmark and CSPAN and I thank God for my internet. I watch and read and learn what is 'current' online. so if we are here, who is watching silly tv shows?

I used to want to be a journalist before I found out that journalists no longer report the news.

TV news lost it's edge a while ago. The one thing I do like is the local investigative reports.

I watch all kinds of news. It keeps me afloat of what the average person will know, and that's good to know so that when I tell them something and they gasp because they don't know, I can have complete understanding as to why.

Which is one more reason why I don't watch tv news. Why would I want to be manipulated and lied to?

Who watches tv, other than current.tv, anymore? I watch all my shows online.

If the television went extinct tomorrow I wouldn't miss it. It's filled with mindless advertisements and a lot of horrible shows.

Just keep them away from PBS. WE still have the internet and satellite Radio (Our Radio Free Europe.) We still have a chance until those are gone.

I loathe it. TV news is a festering putrid exercise in distraction and propaganda.

I'm not surprised by this. really, i can't tell the idiot talking-heads on some stations from pat robertson and his ilk. they are all so asinine and trite while simultaneously being so stunning ignorant of everything in the world.

Trust me.
There's just as much NEWS on these shows as there is in the shows we put on at my station...
Possibly more.

At least TMZ and Patty Rob air content from places other than the American Idol soundstage and Iraq.