The "News" and TV in general.........

So Glad

A few months ago I decided to stop watching television, due to the fact that it is separating people more and more from reality. Programs like Desperate Housewives, America's Next Top Model, Big Brother, Fox News, Sky News, MTV are continuously portraying a false reality and people are believing it. So I stopped that, I only watch DVDs every now and then, maybe a bit of comedy. But I have friends and family members who watch these programs with full concentration and I think it's absolute madness. Can they actually see themselves and what they are watching? Have they been softened to watch just about anything? It's madness.

Anyways, was on Sky News' webpage to glance at the headline for the first time in months, and behold.....all the headlines are absolutely irrelevant to anything and are desparate attempts to build pointless and unnessesary stories up, then scroll down to the small text near the bottom "Boy's Body Found Floating In Channel", "Police Shoot Dead Person In Kent" whilst headlines are the 2012 Olympic logo, Paris Hilton, Coke Cans and long gone over-blown Maddie? Remember the Iraq war?


Please tell me I'm not the only one! :mad:

DaBreno

Youre not the only one. The state of TV these days is rather muck. I have the Sky satellite in and one could flick through the hundreds of chanells on offer and still find themselves looking at the same crap. I blame Channell 4 and Big Brother. They heralded in a dark age of appalling TV that is best described as "Bored people watching other people being Bored".

Knock Sky News on the head however, tis pure tabloid news. Who wants to hear about missile systems in Bulgaria when we have Paris Hilton?

c - 13

I dont think i've watched television in about a year now. Any news I am interested in can be found on the internet.

I've taken to buying DVD's and if there is any show that interests me I will buy it on DVD instead of watching it on TV. Even if this means waiting longer to get it.

As you said yourself with the deluge of crap programming and so called "reality" TV shows, I am beginning to wonder if the general viewing audience is actually getting dumber to allow themselves to be spoon fed this muck.

Unfortunately it is almost impossible to completely remove yourself from all the "News" and celebrity crap, its everywhere, radio, newspapers (even a fair few of the broadsheets are including it now), internet and general people gossiping.

So Glad

Big Brother was bad enough though, but these new genre of programs are turning people into vain, egotistical idiots. The girls I know who watch America's Next Top Model think and act like those idiots because they honestly think that's success or something.

This type of journalism in the media is also dangerous. If we keep overlooking things and reporting bull**** it's gonna nip us in the but real hard.....9/11 anyone?

So Glad

c - 13 wrote:

Unfortunately it is almost impossible to completely remove yourself from all the "News" and celebrity crap, its everywhere, radio, newspapers (even a fair few of the broadsheets are including it now), internet and general people gossiping.

Yes, I find the internet a safe haven. But it's under threat. I'm sure you've seen the adverts that seem to have permission to fill your screen with bull****, and pre-video stream ads and most recently, pre-flash game ads that are highly irritating.

Fortunately, some well placed Firefox add-ons work wonders for that crap.

Tar.Aldarion

I do not watch tv, and also have opinions, some coincide with yours!

ClarenceOveur

Yeah, I stopped watching telly about 1/2 months ago and its grand. DVD's are keeping me going so far. Missing the matches is a bit annoying, but it's not worth getting all the other crap to watch them. A mates house/the pub is fine by me.

Thankfully I haven't seen *any* Big Brother this time around and I had taken to shouting at Sky News

Duggy747

Back home I stopped watching Sky digital roughly about 4 years ago, sheer muck!! I only watch UK GOLD now just to catch Top Gear which leads me to a funny lil' story. My older sister comes in and sees me watching Top Gear:

Sister: "What are you doing watching that!?! It glorifies boy racing and dangerous driving!"

Didn't know what to say back really to that, well, stupid comment so I watched the last 2 mins of it and hand the remote over to my sis...........to which she turns over to Big Brother and proceeds to watch for the next few hours.

ME: "What are you doing watching that!?! It glorifies stupidity......bah!!"

As for the news thing, yeah, the whole priorities are a "little" bolloxed up. I read the papers all the time and last weekend I read more about fùckin Paris Hilton than any other matter! :mad:

AlmightyCushion

Yeah I don't watch tv much nowadays. Too much sh!te on for my liking.

So Glad

Jesus H. Christ.

I'm now looking at "world news" and I am just.....astonished.....I never knew it was this bad.

"World News".

Right....some Coke produce made with unpaid labor in China prisons.....oh, as apposed to 5 cent a hour?! Outrage, outrage! :rolleyes: People are made make licence plates in American prisons without pay, is this a travesty? A story about a sniffer dog.....F1......man dressed in Crocodile costume.....Cameron Diaz posing with a child.....bus crashes into building, nobody hurt, few bricks about the place.......Paris Hilton, Paris Hilton..............This is world news? My, my, my....

Steve_o

Who cares about anything in the world, George Michael is eyeing up a diamond skull....now thats news!!!!:rolleyes:

AlmightyCushion

Steve_o wrote:

Who cares about anything in the world, George Michael is eyeing up a diamond skull....now thats news!!!!:rolleyes:

Yeah I read that today. WTF? €75m it's costing him as well.

Tusky

I stopped watching tv about two years ago. I would say I watch something on tv maybe once every month or two. I download any of the programs I want and buy dvds.

smashey

boards.tv.

Sign up and let rip.

r3nu4l

While Big Brother is trash TV at it's best/worst Channel 4 have done some amazing documentaries and Channel 4 news is very good and filled with mostly serious content. C4 News were not afraid to grill C4 bosses over the recent Big Brother (and Celeb BB) racism events. C4 news (produced by ITN) retain a lot of independence form the channel itself which is great.

Sky News has always been terrible imo. It is purely agenda ridden muck and it really does pander for the most part to the lowest common denominator. I agree that a huge amount of television is poor but there are some good shows.

I regret that Channel 4 has gone steadily downhill over the years with "How Clean is your house", "Big Brother" and "You are What you eat" but on the other hand you do have "Embarrassing illnesses" which is an excellent educational program that really does have merit. IMO, that should be shown in every school in the UK and Ireland.

TV can be real muck but there are individual programs out there that are worth watching. You just have to discipline yourself and train yourself not to get sucked into watching all the crap! <-- he says after watching Big Brother for the last two weeks or so

Slow Motion

I am proud to say I have never watched an episode of BB, I have four channels and watch the news, Q & A and the odd Prime time ! I do however have a rather impressive collection of DVDs, books and P.C. games


....and friends, honest !

c - 13

r3nu4l wrote:

... C4 News were not afraid to grill C4 bosses over the recent Big Brother (and Celeb BB) racism events. C4 news (produced by ITN) retain a lot of independence form the channel itself which is great...

OK, now I have not seen the footage of these comments made and dont watch TV to see the news but my first though on reading about it in the headlines were C4 thought, "Racism last year = Ratings ++; Racism this Year = Ratings ++++; lets get someone to go in and use the N-Word". Sensationalism = Ratings, C4 news is obviously going to give air time ot an incident that happened on their own channels even if only to publicise to draw more viewers. I mean thats not news as far as i'm concerned ...

(if that makes sense)

Steve_o

AlmightyCushion wrote:

Yeah I read that today. WTF? €75m it's costing him as well.

It just goes to show that apparently a singer spending €75mil on a diamond skull is far more important than the several wars going on at the moment...god knows what'll be next!

Duggy747

Since moving to take on work experience I only have the 4 Oìrish channels, but I don't watch too much stuff on it, cept the occasional Hands or WildTwo and of course Home & Away (The smoking weed story has me currently gripped ) I made sure I bought an external Hard Drive before I finished college and filled the bastard up with a ridiculous amount of movies, games, and tv shows collected over the past 2 years.......though now I've pretty much run out of things to do, and just as I was getting hooked on Heroes I run out by the 18th episode, bah!! And I owe AlmightyCushion €200 for letting me use his credit card to buy the thing

AlmightyCushion

Steve_o wrote:

It just goes to show that apparently a singer spending €75mil on a diamond skull is far more important than the several wars going on at the moment...god knows what'll be next!

Yeah real news just seems to take a backseat to things like this.

Tar.Aldarion

75mil? It was priced at 15 which would make them a nice profit. I guess it shows to go how much people will pay for crap.

Mahatma coat

concur with the OP here

Just thinkin about this today, I think We're the last Generation born without Saturation media.

I'm countin anyone born bfore 1980 here, I can remember when Thelma Mansfield was the continuity announcer for RTEcartoons and it started with Bosco at 3pm


A really good movie on this topic would be Idiocracy (actualy the movie touches on ****loads bout modern society)

tho I do watch some telly, couple of shows a week that I cant get online, yho I prefer to watch TV series on the web in batches of programs

Mahatma coat

eh Duggy PM me your email and I'll send you a few links where you can Stream the rest of heroes and other shows

Maximilian

So Glad wrote:

"Police Shoot Dead Person In Kent"

Why? Did the body body twitch in a threatening manner?

Ger the man

I think Ireland in general has a huge tv culture and we will watch any crap that is on. I dont watch tv since getting back into guitar playing, I think watching tv is a wate of time tbh. We actually went without a set for a few months in our house and despite the usual moaning from the kids they got used to being without it very quickly, the license inspector called and didnt believe we didnt have a set, my reply was 'I have a life'. We got a lend of a tv as a test and the kids showed no interest in it, they prefer their hobbies instead! (karate,cooking and music). The neighbours are trying the same thing and are amazed at the results. I cancelled my ntl subscription and the neighbours did the same. I have no time for celebrity (BB, P Hilton etc) rubbish either. Im not saying that tv should be banned, I just think that we waste too much time in front of it, there is simply more to life.

AlmightyCushion

Duggy747 wrote:

Since moving to take on work experience I only have the 4 Oìrish channels, but I don't watch too much stuff on it, cept the occasional Hands or WildTwo and of course Home & Away (The smoking weed story has me currently gripped ) I made sure I bought an external Hard Drive before I finished college and filled the bastard up with a ridiculous amount of movies, games, and tv shows collected over the past 2 years.......though now I've pretty much run out of things to do, and just as I was getting hooked on Heroes I run out by the 18th episode, bah!! And I owe AlmightyCushion €200 for letting me use his credit card to buy the thing

I'm the same as yourself with only the four channels. Only watch the odd thing every now and then on the tv. Yes that home and away bit is class

P.S Where's mah money b!tch :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

kevmy

I wouldn't go to drastic step of not watching television but I would not watch any of the crap. The idea of TV imo is to entertain, inform and educate in that order.
Some people find different things entertaining. Personally I watch mainly dramas and some comedies on TV eg. Prison Break, Lost, Sopranos, Simpsons etc. The good stuff essentially. IMO some of these programs are better than some of the best films every made. The Godfather trilogy is a bout 9/10 hours but the Sopranos is prob 100 hours of the same quality.
However I do believe that News and most programming have been dumbed down. Reality shows, any 24 news station etc. However there are still a lot of excellent documentaries and current affairs shows around. C4 news (as mentioned before is v. good), some Prime Times, Attenboroughs stuff.

So it's not that TV is not worth looking at it's just that you have to look at stuf which interests you and is worthwhile. Filter out the crap (of which there is undoubtedly more of these days) and just watch the interesting stuff. If enough people do that they might take the crap stuff off the air due to bad ratings.

Maximilian wrote:

Why? Did the body body twitch in a threatening manner?

LOL

Ger the man

I didnt find it drastic at all? I simply had enough of the crap that was on tv and spoke to my kids about watching it. They eventually agreed to no tv for a while and pursued other interests, I recently asked them if they wanted a tv in their bedrooms and they replied 'no way'. Yes there is some good stuff but simply not enough to warrant the cost of a license imo.

Marksie

I only get rte, so effecively dont have television at all (in fact i removed the ariel). Still have to pay the lsicence fee though :mad:

The reality TV is utter rubbish and i really dont miss TV at all.

I will go through the internet for the news and have a dvd collection.

Tar.Aldarion

Get rid of your tv?

Mahatma coat

BirdBath has a topical if rambling article on the subject here

http://www.blather.net/****egeist/2007/05/its_all_gone_grant_morrison_or_how_heroe.htm

Stephen

I only tune into certain programming that I know I like, such as The Sopranos and Prison Break, Top Gear, etc. I can't sit and channel surf/veg in front of the TV as I'd end up putting something through it out of rage at all the complete and utter **** on it. "E" Channel needs to be eradicated from the face of the earth. All the celebrity worship and reality TV bollocks actively makes its viewers less intelligent.

r3nu4l

c - 13 wrote:

OK, now I have not seen the footage of these comments made and dont watch TV to see the news...

I see what you are saying but while they are headline grabbers, C4 news is one of the best news programs on TV (Generally, there are always episodes with exception).

The report the other night from Palestine where the reporter was dodging Israeli plastic bullets and her guide was hit with a bullet and knocked unconcious was amazing. It really showed the situation as it stands from a first-hand view, rather than the usual "reporter in the sidelines describes what is happening nearby" viewpoint. This was happening to the reporter. Most impressive and impartial broadcast I've seen for a long time. No blame or bias ascribed to either the Israelies or the Palestinians, simply "this is the way it is and this is what's happening".

Duggy747

Mahatma coat wrote:

eh Duggy PM me your email and I'll send you a few links where you can Stream the rest of heroes and other shows

Thanks anyways, I know where to find them but I've only internet access at work and I couldn't be arsed downloading them. I was spoiled in Sligo IT, could download an 700MB movie in exactly 1 minute and 30 seconds. Everything else feels like dial-up tbh. Christ, I hope I get back for 4th year.......I won't be able to handle going cold turkey!

LundiMardi

I moved a few weeks ago and since have had no NTL, so my dvds are all thats entertaining me right now (movies, father ted, extras and american dad so far).

It's nice in a way but i do like my tv, i miss CSI heh heh:) Although, i have made the decision to not have a tv in my room, something which i never would have dreamed of a few months ago. So, i have a get away where i can do other things like play my instruments, listen to music etc...

Duggy747

LundiMardi wrote:

It's nice in a way but i do like my tv, i miss CSI heh heh:)

Actually I love watching CSI - Las Vegas, Miami sucks balls cuz it's over the top (It's CSI, I know, but......too over-the-top!)

pclancy

Great thread, nice to see not everyone gets sucked into the crap thats on all the time. I got rid of sky a few months back and have made a serious effort to cut TV out of my life alltogether. Getting a laptop and searching for other things to do have done wonders. The news disgusts me usually, Sky/CNN/FOX/BBC (not always the beeb but sometimes they're bad) focus on irrelevant stupid muck that people without any intelligence seem to thrive on. Headlines focusing on a celebrity's new haircut or a polotician found to have smoked a doob 20 years ago take precendance over worldwide issues such as disasters, coups, science, technology or other issues. Spend half an hour browisng BBC news worldwide, indymedia or google news websites and you'll be amazed at the stuff thats going on in the world that nobody gets told on tv news....who gives a flying f*** if victoria beckham is now a size -200, shouldnt we be told something usefull at 6.1?

I think people have just become sucked in over the years. Work, Dinner, TV, Bed is so many people's lives and its terrifying! You need to chose your own entertainment not be spoon fed some corporate sponsered crap that mr murdock decides you should know....dont get me started on Big Brother, watching people sleep or eat means theres something seriously missing in your own life!

Ger the man

Well said!

MikeHoncho

So Glad wrote:

Yes, I find the internet a safe haven. But it's under threat. I'm sure you've seen the adverts that seem to have permission to fill your screen with bull****, and pre-video stream ads and most recently, pre-flash game ads that are highly irritating.

Fortunately, some well placed Firefox add-ons work wonders for that crap.

Seriously dude are you some kind of crusty hippy. Advertising pays for all that nice free news and content your getting. Dont be so naive. People put time and effort in to giving you all that lovely content that they dont charge you for. They have to eat you know.

Cormic

Funny how everyone is having a go at Sky Digital. I have Sky+ and it means I can choose what I watch and when I watch it. I fast forward the advertisements so I don't have to watch them. It is like downloading your favourite shows but without the grey legal questions.

Ger the man

I once made a commitment to start training for a marathon with a few freinds. On marathon day one guy didnt show up, we rang him and said he wasnt well, turns out he wanted to watch Jerry Springer!

pclancy

:rolleyes:

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

all the people bitching about sky newws, fox, cnn.. just watch al jazeera or france 24. fox news is only good for one thing, 1am on a weekday night.. bill o'reilly.

yeah baby.

yeah.


http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/1EBB4C7F-7F2E-4257-A04C-56678862E31A.htm

Ishmael

Not Really a T.V. person myself, although i do watch the odd documentary or snooker match whenever i get a chance.

Big Brother is probably one of the worst things to have ever been invented as it effectively makes role models out of some of the most useless people who as far as i can see, are encouraged to act irresponsibly on T.V.

The show seems to be aimed at people with a low IQ and the producers seem to want lower that IQ even more.

All this spoon feeding of garbage into the minds of people can't be good and i think there are a too many people out there wasting their minds on this tripe when they could be actively involved in something that stimulates there mind rather than destroying it.

If i have children, there'll be no t.v for them to watch as i would not let someone i was responsible for grow up thinking that working for Jade Goody was something anybody would consider a goal in life (even a temporary goal).

pclancy

English Al Jazera is really good, I love Euronews as well except when the weather is on. Cannot stand the music that they play during it though....80s' elevator synths...shudder!

So Glad

pclancy wrote:

Great thread, nice to see not everyone gets sucked into the crap thats on all the time. I got rid of sky a few months back and have made a serious effort to cut TV out of my life alltogether. Getting a laptop and searching for other things to do have done wonders. The news disgusts me usually, Sky/CNN/FOX/BBC (not always the beeb but sometimes they're bad) focus on irrelevant stupid muck that people without any intelligence seem to thrive on. Headlines focusing on a celebrity's new haircut or a polotician found to have smoked a doob 20 years ago take precendance over worldwide issues such as disasters, coups, science, technology or other issues. Spend half an hour browisng BBC news worldwide, indymedia or google news websites and you'll be amazed at the stuff thats going on in the world that nobody gets told on tv news....who gives a flying f*** if victoria beckham is now a size -200, shouldnt we be told something usefull at 6.1?

I think people have just become sucked in over the years. Work, Dinner, TV, Bed is so many people's lives and its terrifying! You need to chose your own entertainment not be spoon fed some corporate sponsered crap that mr murdock decides you should know....dont get me started on Big Brother, watching people sleep or eat means theres something seriously missing in your own life!

Well said. There are things I have read on the internet (scientific discoveries, stuff about planets/space and politics) that I say to people "Oh! Have you heard about [so and so]!? It's amazing." and they'd just look at me like I've made this up, or it's some conspiracy theory, and since it wasn't on Sky News, it wasn't true. There's so much one can learn from the net.

But I've been wanting to seriously convince my mother & sister to get rid of our Sky Digital box, subscription, television and satellite. My mother is meant to be writing books (which she used to do....4 years ago) but has been wasting time watching America's Next Top Model, Most Haunted, "E" Channel (which is the spawn of satan). It's worrying to see her and my sis just staring at the TV set like vegetables. I'd approach her and say something like "Do you not actually realize how degrading this is to your mind?" or "Mam, this stuff will melt your mind." but she'd just say "It's my only vice." as if it's all she ****ing lives for. Ergo, she lacks any creative muse, and has given up the whole thing. How would I go about convincing her? I'm sure that paying less money per month is a good, but the drop back down to reality might be tough. Still, needs to be done at this point.

And to whoever called me a crusty hippy. We don't need ads in our face all the time to sustain the internet. End, of, argument.

Steve_o

pclancy wrote:

English Al Jazera is really good, I love Euronews as well except when the weather is on. Cannot stand the music that they play during it though....80s' elevator synths...shudder!

Agreed, the "No Comment" section on Euronews is quite good....
The weather used to piss me off for another reason

"Its so easy with Somfy".....thank god thats gone!!!

Duggy747

Steve_o wrote:

Agreed, the "No Comment" section on Euronews is quite good....
The weather used to piss me off for another reason

"Its so easy with Somfy".....thank god thats gone!!!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEURONEWS!! AND NOW LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE MAG!

God, I hate yer man's voice. I do like Euronew though, cept sometimes it can be a sign you're up too late!

Steve_o

Yea that guys voice is fairly annoying alright....its more entertaining at 4am than nightscreen tho!!!

AlmightyCushion

Steve_o wrote:

Yea that guys voice is fairly annoying alright....its more entertaining at 4am than nightscreen tho!!!

Better when you're pissed. You know it's bad when you start seeing the same thing on euronews then you know you're up too late.:D

Steve_o

AlmightyCushion wrote:

Better when you're pissed. You know it's bad when you start seeing the same thing on euronews then you know you're up too late.:D

Aye...

RTE1 - Euronews
RTE2 - Euronews
TV3 - Infomercials
TG4 - Euronews

God bless Irish late night TV.:D