Why You Don’t Need to Watch the News

It is soon to be summer again, our third one since the lockdown and arrival of Covid-19, and we all feel the need to relax, stretch and take time off from work and responsibilities if we can. We need to step away from the noise of our lives and consider what is real and what matters.

Of course, most of us cannot do this. We are all locked into our computers and addicted to the online world; we follow various feeds and media sites; some of us even watch television.

I do not have a television at the moment. If I want to learn about the latest noises out there, I have a laptop (actually two of them: one borrowed from work for online productions and the other for my own writing and to resist the temptations of the internet) and a radio (this is actually my favourite medium for picking up the news; no visuals and very little channel surfing).

I have begun to wonder about the news. I saw patterns that are behind it all, no matter how far to the left or the right the network might be.

And that was when I realized that there is very little point in watching the news.

Writers and artists have famously avoided newspapers or shown little if any interest in current events (e.g. V.S. Naipaul barely read newspapers – he called such actions “a form of idleness”; James Joyce managed to write “Ulysses” on the European continent while ignoring World War I). This is not to say that we are all artists or writers worth such a title, but I can understand their indifference.

And maybe I can help you. I have broken down the news to certain elements and I think that even the most devoted program addict – news junkies, as they are called – will find my analysis and ideas helpful:

How the news is broken down on television:

First Item:

This will have to be very big; this will have to be something that the audience cares about: a sports team or athlete winning a championship or award of some type (local or national); a declaration of war; a celebrity – local or international – who died, visited town, married someone, etc. Most of these would be clear to you before you even watched the program and you may feel it is redundant to sit in front of another screen to hear about them (things travel very fast online).

International News:

This will be a war, hijacking, massacre, disease outbreak, etc., in a nation that you have never visited, never wanted to visit, or even have been warned off visiting by people who have never been there themselves and could not even find it on a map. There may be people who have emigrated from that nation, but you may not be interested in knowing more about it until you see a protest based on the news item, preferably in a local news segment.

Local News:

See above paragraph; plus, you will have stories about an accident, a fire, a murder (don’t worry; it will never be near where you live), or something to do with pets, seniors, juniors (okay, children or young people), or sports. Occasionally, there will be a serious topic involving a loss of life, but usually this will a light piece to keep the audience cued up for…

Sports:

Local or international, it should have a tie-in with your hometown or local area. If not, it should definitely link in with the nation as a whole and be a victory that everyone wants to discuss, even if you and many others have no real interest in following that sport (most Olympic coverage can be handled in this way).

Entertainment:

This will be a film/music/concert/performance review (very rarely will it cover the fine arts or the opening of a gallery exhibit). You will not have much interest in this unless you are trying to decide on a movie to see, or you are kicking yourself for not spending too much money on a ticket to see a performance you promised to watch at least once in your life.

Lottery Draw:

Only on specific days of the week. And do not worry: you never win, except for free tickets that will allow you to experience the same disappointment week after week.

Weather:

Always the last item in a news report – they know what we want to know – and maybe important enough to watch?

No.

If you want to know what is happening, go outside. If you do have to find out what the weather will be like later in the day or week, just hang on and wait for that day to show up. And always remember to do the following: carry an umbrella in the spring; dress up warmly in the winter; dress down comfortably in the summer; do your best in that difficult season called autumn. That should see you through all seasons.