News is offered in so many different ways nowadays – hardcopy (newspaper/magazine), electronic (internet), audibly (radio) and visually (television) – that the media does not give much room to not know what is going on in the world today. Of course, all sources, that are not opinion-based, are regulated to make sure that they are valid and not causing the world to break out in a riot. It is always interesting to see how much things have changed in the past and you sit and think, “Wow, knowing what I know now, could I really survive a time when there was no television or the internet?” I think I could.
Although television is probably the most appealing of all the mediums, I find it to be the most distracting. They touch briefly on actual news and then focus on other “news” to stir up chaos like “How milk is really not good for the body. Tune in and find out.” Maybe there isn’t enough news out there to be covered? I am not sure. With the newspaper and the internet, you have more control on what you want to find out about. You can skim through and browse sections to get the stories that you have more interest in and it is uninterrupted (unless someone stops to talk to you or your bus arrives). I can’t say that I don’t “watch” the news because I can usually YouTube or find a video clip online of the particular news story that I was reading about.
Whichever route you take to find out the latest news, we have so many options of being informed by what is going on in the world.
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Wekcome to the jungle, good nigh and good luck. (Wow, I just just used a Guns n Roses lyric and a movie qoute in the same sentence.)
What I mean by that is: information now bombards us at an ever increasing rate, through an ever increasing volume of sources. Our trial is to pare down the info overload to a workable hunk, digest it, and rinse and repeat.
The diffent forms of media all offer a product. I should say commercial media. This product contains the info we need and want but not always in the format we like. Its still invaluable and it still makes a difference. I agree that we must filter what info we come across to make the best of it, but the fact thats its all so readilly avaliable now (info) gives a competetive advantage that our parents and previous generation didn't have. I'd compare it going fishing: Our parents had a pretty good fishing hole, stocked with plenty of fish all the time. Our fishing hole is overflowing with fish, they're literally jumping in the boat and we have to make sure our boat does't sink and throw back all the carp and trash fish, sometimes this gets to wear on us and we'd rather go play golf and drink beer.
This is true, no matter what form you prefer to get it in, the news is news. I’m pretty sure that as time passes, the “main” form of getting your news changes with time. It started with the newspaper, everyone would have to read their news as they still do today. Then the next big form of transfering the news was the radio where people would gather around to listen what was going on in the world or during wars, however the newspaper was still being used. Next huge transformatioin was to the television which had a battle with the radio for the spot of the main news provider but overall won. But people still got their news from the radio and the newspapers. Then of course came the internet which has now blown away the other competitors for news since there are millions of different websites that provide different kinds of news coverage and the internet provides them world wide. Yet, people still continue to get their news also form television, radio and newspapers. There are loads of forms for attaining the news, it just depends on your preference in today’s world of vast technological options.
You are right about the news being filled with useless information sometimes. Sports enthusiasts love Sunday night new due to its half hour allotment for sports on most stations. But those who don't care for sports and prefer say Wall Street news would much rather have prices ticking than scoreboards. I think a newspaper that would update itself automatically would be amazing. More so if you could subscribe to news feeds and headlines much like podcasts for radio. Yahoo! Mail comes to mind because you can actually pick your headlines from topics like sports, business and headline news. This kind of invention would help people keep up with THEIR news everyday and only pick up the same newspaper medium that will download the info.
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