boycott TV news. . .?

[stellanoir]

We all grumble incessantly about news bias. The right says it's too liberal and the left says it's corporately controlled propaganda. Either way, it's fundamentally not impartial, often inaccurate, rarely researched at all.

The way scrappy working class investigative reporters have morphed into over paid celebrity talking heads is totally pathetic.

The media freely aired the SBV's lies for weeks with no substantiation whatsoever for their claims.

They're now touting the Newsweek & Time polls as gospel with no mention of the countless other polls that show a meager 2-4 point bounce for *.

The scream fests that pass for lively discussions are intractably polarized. Americans have never in our history been appropriately represented by only two points of view.

For months they've wasted more time on Kobe and Scott Peterson than they've devoted to either convention. They preoccupied themselves for a week with a dead president but couldn't bother to cover Barack Obama's inspiring speech.

The networks have successfully dumbed down our culture for years now with mindlessly uninspired so called "reality TV."

The media is basically not doing its job. So we all e-mail them relentlessly and call them repeatedly and nothing changes. They most likely count our responses, figure people are watching and probably rarely read content.

This may be impossible to pull off during the run up to a national election but I just wonder if it would be possible to start a massive boycott of the TV news. . .say for a couple weeks. . .just to see if it would make a difference. Of course, it would be hard for news junkies but in truth, most of us get more news from the internet , NPR and the BBC long before it shows up on the tube.

Does anyone think this would be possible or even make a difference. . .?

[liveoaktx]

1. I QUIT watching CNN and Fox News- with Dish I can take them

off the menu. I still have MSNBC on, but only because of Olbermann.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

2. But you're still paying for them

not much of a boycott.

[liveoaktx]

Where I live, we have NO cable or local broadcasting

if we wish to watch television, including movies, sports (football season is starting), we have to have satellite. (That includes, on satellite, Free Speech TV and Link, as well as Cspan 1 and 2)

It's all well and good to say that people should just boycott cable. For those who watch NO television, perhaps this is feasible. For those who want *some* television, just not the poison of so-called news shows, the ONLY solution is to block the channels.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

6. Same with me

When I signed up I agreed to a 12-month contract, but once that expires in April, I'm gonna cancel my basic service and just keep my international channel.

[liveoaktx]

8. I'm thinking about getting a shortwave radio

[Feanorcurufinwe]

12. Really, you might want to look into international programming

the news coverage is much better than the US corporate media.

[HFishbine]

3. CNN

I called CNN after the Dem convention and told them I was blocking them on my TV because of their biased coverage.

I now see that CNN was 5th out of six networks for viewership of the Repub convention -- just barely above MSNBC. Firings can't be too far away.

[BillZBubb]

4. I will not watch cable news shows.

My boycott has been in effect for a while. I will not support the enemy.

The 'Net is the best source for news now, by far.

[wtmusic]

5. Boycott TV period

TV offers nothing you can't get from other sources with more reliability

[liveoaktx]

7. Not true........

I can't watch football games in other cities if I don't have television.

I can't watch Democracy Now or other documentaries that are available on FSTV and LINK if I don't have television.

I can't watch Bill Maher or The Daily Show if I don't have TV. And the entire show is not clipped onto their website.

[wtmusic]

10. True

There are good documentaries on TV. There is good entertainment, although it's getting rarer. And if you're a sports fan, well...

OTOH, I have watched virtually no TV for over fifteen years, replacing it with newspapers, books, and internet. I feel the quality of my life has increased dramatically.

[stellanoir]

11. no the idea was not necessarily to

take your TV out to the backyard and shoot it (as a dear friend of mine once did), but to not get your news from cable or network news sources for several weeks.

The boycott would definately not include the Daily Show. Jon Stewart is a god among men and one of the only sources of truth and irony on the tube.

[Township75]

14. A great suggestion...

Last year I was paying for cable that I never watched. There are maybe 4 channels I liked (Discovery, History, TLC, HGTV) yet I had to pay for the other air-headed pointless drivel. So I cancelled, never put up an antenna and have just loved being without TV.

Do the same, if not for a boycott, for yourself.

[stellanoir]

9. a few of us avoiding the tube won't make much of a

difference, aside from our own individual mental health improving markedly.

But seriously, if we picked a specific two to four week period and encouraged everyone we know to avoid cable and network news, did a massive e-mail campaign and encouraged them to write to the networks and let them know. . .would it possibly diminish their ad revenues enough for them to institute higher standards. . .or am I dreaming. . .?

[liveoaktx]

13. The only way to turn this from infotainment is to alter the FCC rules

bring back the fairness doctrine, roll back the Telecommunications Act, elect Kerry so that the balance of appointees on the FCC panel swing in our favor. Broadcast news is supposed to have accountability for *informing* the public, cable news has none of the same restrictions. The root, I believe, is getting power so that we can overhaul this BACK to being responsible to the public.

[miss_kitty]

15. i have no cable, rarely watch network news-i guess i already boycott it

i don't watch or read stuff that makes me nuts, and i am surprized at the number of people who do.

i get my news from 'Democracy Now!' 'FAIR', and various sites i like on the internet. there's 'The Daily Show'.

along with 'FAIR', I also read 'CJR' and 'E&P' and 'Media Matters'-that is how i get mainstream news, as it is being debunked.

there's 'Counterpunch' 'The Nation', 'Common dreams', 'Truthout', 'AAR', 'Capitol Hill Blue'.

there are source sites-ACLU, HRW, AI, for example

Center for American Progress and Center for Public Integrty, Corporate Crime Watch

i feel i am pretty well informed-more informed than most, as a matter of fact-with the News i CHOOSE to read/watch/listen to, and none of it is the evening 'news' or cable 'news'

[Fiendish Thingy]

16. I disconnected my cable over a year ago

Because my kids weren't doing their homework. It's been a great time saver (if you consider spending more time surfing the internet a good thing :7 ) Where I live you can only get 4-5 channels with an antenna, and 2 of them are in spanish. I almost never watch TV news, to preserve my sanity. I get most of my news from Buzzflash, Yahoo, etc. where I can pick and choose from biased or balanced sources. I occasionally listen to Air America and NPR.
The dilemma that I see is: if more progressives stopped watching mainstream TV news, ratings might drop, as would ad revenues, but then that would increase the share of conservatives watching, which would reinforce the Networks rightward bias...

[Triana]

17. I haven't watched tv news since Nov 2000...

...I cancelled my cable service at that time. I get news only on the internet - sometimes streaming vid from msnbc, cnn, wherever (rarely, though) - but I do NOT watch teevee news and haven't for 3-4 years.

already boycotted it...

[Nay]

18. I never, and I mean NEVER, watch TV news. I also have stopped

subscribing to the local RW mullet-wrapper of a newspaper. They can all go to hell.