I don’t think that the connection here should be dismissed outright; I agree that just as news has bias, and clicks drive profits, so too can news drive profits and therefore be considered advertising. However, I think, as another commenter has pointed out, you maybe could serve your argument better by digging deeper into the examples in the pattern of behavior you believe to have exemplified here and ask, “Why?”
For example, in the only example you dive deep into, its important to ask: why would Have I Been Pwned,” a website I understand to be donation driven not-for-profit service and only takes in an email and spits out hits on already released data, have any incentive (or money) to get a news article published about them? This service doesn’t have any benefit to have more visits.
I think one thing you can take from this community is that there is one word that holds the highest value among people who attempt to better themselves as rational thinkers: *reconsider*. Yes, you have reconsidered the incentives of new agencies, but what of yourself? You say that the relationship between your happiness and news is not subjective, but aren’t all feelings subjective? Could it be the case that you are a less happy person when watching news because the news is, simply put, largely negative? Or perhaps that you, like many including myself, feel powerless in the face of negative news that is far away? Could your new sources be less biased or more diverse? Couldn’t it be the case that seeking out authors that have beliefs that align with you could challenge you less as an intellectual, and therefore be less productive for your mental broadening even if it feels better?
Reconsider all things. Delve into the “why”. And do not eschew that which makes you uncomfortable simply for comforts sake; take the news, blog or mainstream, with a grain of salt and a healthy dose of skepticism, and when you are going for good feelings my advice would be to avoid all news and just go do something you enjoy, like writing!
Yes, you have reconsidered the incentives of new agencies, but what of yourself?
My objective when consuming media is to become happy and smart. News reduces my happiness and makes me stupid.
You say that the relationship between your happiness and news is not subjective, but aren’t all feelings
subjective?
I mean that following the news causes objectively observable behaviors that are known to reduce happiness.
Could it be the case that you are a less happy person when watching news because the news is, simply put, largely negative? Or perhaps that you, like many including myself, feel powerless in the face of negative news that is far away?
Yes. Negativity is indeed a contributing factor.
Could your new sources be less biased or more diverse?
Maybe? But I would have to go to extremely offbeat publications to get this to work. I have tried reading Al-Jazeera, news from South Africa, news from Nigeria, news from China in Chinese, anti-Chinese news in English, Fox News, my local moderate newspaper and my local radically leftist newspaper. The radical leftists produce a useful independently-researched cheatsheet during election season. Otherwise, all I found were different flavors of propaganda and advertisements. Specialized forums and independent reporters dedicated to extremely narrow topics can get around the specific bias identified in this post, but even they still run into the (unexplored by this post) Lindy Effect.
Couldn’t it be the case that seeking out authors that have beliefs that align with you could challenge you less as an intellectual, and therefore be less productive for your mental broadening even if it feels better?
Yes? I am not sure what this is getting at because you wrote it before my comment mentioning Noam Chomsky. Are you suggesting I seek out authors who disagree with the likes of George Orwell? That is, I should read straight fascist propaganda? I love being challenged by coherent arguments, but prolonged attention to a repetitive stream of beliefs-as-attire seems like a non-optimal allocation of my time.
However, I think, as another commenter has pointed out, you maybe could serve your argument better by digging deeper into the examples in the pattern of behavior you believe to have exemplified here and ask, “Why?”
While that’s a step in the right direction, there’s still a good chance that you don’t understand things from the outside.
If you want to understand how the news work it’s important to read views from experts that actually have domain knowledge.
There is a lot of commonality between this post and the idea of churnalism, which was coined by a journalist, and appears well substantiated. There may be a difference in emphasis or intent—churnalism isn’t about deliberately manipulating the reader, but PR is, and churnalism enables this.
I don’t think that the connection here should be dismissed outright; I agree that just as news has bias, and clicks drive profits, so too can news drive profits and therefore be considered advertising. However, I think, as another commenter has pointed out, you maybe could serve your argument better by digging deeper into the examples in the pattern of behavior you believe to have exemplified here and ask, “Why?”
For example, in the only example you dive deep into, its important to ask: why would Have I Been Pwned,” a website I understand to be donation driven not-for-profit service and only takes in an email and spits out hits on already released data, have any incentive (or money) to get a news article published about them? This service doesn’t have any benefit to have more visits.
I think one thing you can take from this community is that there is one word that holds the highest value among people who attempt to better themselves as rational thinkers: *reconsider*. Yes, you have reconsidered the incentives of new agencies, but what of yourself? You say that the relationship between your happiness and news is not subjective, but aren’t all feelings subjective? Could it be the case that you are a less happy person when watching news because the news is, simply put, largely negative? Or perhaps that you, like many including myself, feel powerless in the face of negative news that is far away? Could your new sources be less biased or more diverse? Couldn’t it be the case that seeking out authors that have beliefs that align with you could challenge you less as an intellectual, and therefore be less productive for your mental broadening even if it feels better?
Reconsider all things. Delve into the “why”. And do not eschew that which makes you uncomfortable simply for comforts sake; take the news, blog or mainstream, with a grain of salt and a healthy dose of skepticism, and when you are going for good feelings my advice would be to avoid all news and just go do something you enjoy, like writing!
My objective when consuming media is to become happy and smart. News reduces my happiness and makes me stupid.
I mean that following the news causes objectively observable behaviors that are known to reduce happiness.
Yes. Negativity is indeed a contributing factor.
Maybe? But I would have to go to extremely offbeat publications to get this to work. I have tried reading Al-Jazeera, news from South Africa, news from Nigeria, news from China in Chinese, anti-Chinese news in English, Fox News, my local moderate newspaper and my local radically leftist newspaper. The radical leftists produce a useful independently-researched cheatsheet during election season. Otherwise, all I found were different flavors of propaganda and advertisements. Specialized forums and independent reporters dedicated to extremely narrow topics can get around the specific bias identified in this post, but even they still run into the (unexplored by this post) Lindy Effect.
Yes? I am not sure what this is getting at because you wrote it before my comment mentioning Noam Chomsky. Are you suggesting I seek out authors who disagree with the likes of George Orwell? That is, I should read straight fascist propaganda? I love being challenged by coherent arguments, but prolonged attention to a repetitive stream of beliefs-as-attire seems like a non-optimal allocation of my time.
While that’s a step in the right direction, there’s still a good chance that you don’t understand things from the outside.
If you want to understand how the news work it’s important to read views from experts that actually have domain knowledge.
There is a lot of commonality between this post and the idea of churnalism, which was coined by a journalist, and appears well substantiated. There may be a difference in emphasis or intent—churnalism isn’t about deliberately manipulating the reader, but PR is, and churnalism enables this.
My criticism isn’t mainly about the conclusion but about the epistemics, epistemics being one of the main subjects of LW.