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Comment by dudul | Hacker News Reader

I also live in the US, but migrated there only 7 years ago. And, the news is one of the things that shocked me the most. They are not news, they are echo-chambers designed to please viewers and sell time slots to ad-publishers.

Every single story has to be sensational, has to be "crazy", or "unbelievable". Everything has to be a show with music, sound effects and cool teasers.

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The stream of Pokemon Go packages masquerading as news on local news programs has been mind blowing this week.

You're absolutely right. Our news media is terrible.

We have reporters on "respected" shows sensationalizing flooding in canoes! [1]

They love to divide us based on race, sex, whatever, but the data doesn't support their claims of crisis. And we gobble it up.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgm3_jzcNm4

That's interesting, I never thought about what news might be like elsewhere. It's better in other countries? I guess I just kind of assume it's like this everywhere. (this may make me sound like an ignorant American, but honestly I've no idea what the news is like everywhere else, I barely follow it here for dudul's exact reasons)

Try this : http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldserviceradio

You don't have images, but you'd surprised how many things happen in the world at once...

Agreed. BBC World News is also available on some cable networks apparently (https://bbcnewschannelfinder.com/).

(Live streams also exist, both "unofficially", and legally but geo-restricted on Livestation, apparently.)

PBS and NPR are the only American sources on TV I considered fairly comparable in tone and depth to news programs in other countries.

Switzerland represent. Our news are just boring news. Yes i've seen a news report about a cat beeing in a tree. I've also seen a news report about kids painting their mofas. If nothing interesting happens right now, that is the kind of content we get to see.

Currently there is a lot "lulz Trump", "wtf hillary" and "trololo brexit" in between. So it is a bit more sensationalized then else.

When I moved to the US I was shocked that the news cycle is so editorialized. Only a few main stories surface in the media, usually things that have some commercial interest. Brazil has one of the worst national media anywhere, but at least they allow more variety of views and you can make your mind about what matters or not.

The other poster was correct when he recommended BBC world news. That is basically what news is like in Norway as well - less sensationalized, and not nearly as much like a grab-your-attention-with-gimicks show. And there is a much larger section to international news, and that part is much broader than I'd get from a channel in the states. Folks are much more aware - to the point that a taco place advertises it as "so Mexican, Trump would build a wall around it", and that is funny to folks here. Brexit is obviously a big story right now.

For another example, listen to news on your local NPR station. You might get a feel for the presenter's opinion, but most of the information is simply information. That is much more near the 'flavor' of news here.

A French news TV, with livestreams in French, Arabic, and English: http://www.france24.com/en/livefeed

The main news channel in France: http://www.bfmtv.com/mediaplayer/live-video/

The written news is even worse, a gigantic live feed of what every idiot on Twitter thinks mixed in with exploding popup ads that capture your click if you're not perfectly precise 'Here's what @TotallyNotAPaidShill had to say about the latest political scandal' [Click Here to see 9 ways you can lose weight with Prolexitroll]

Where did you migrate from? And what was the news like there?

I migrated from Western Europe. The main difference I see is that there is no breaks to show TV-ads in the middle of the news. Traditionally the news is from 8pm to 8.40pm, uninterrupted, followed by 5 to 10 minutes dedicated to the weather, and then a 90 to 120min movie with one break in the middle.

Nowadays, there are more options: some news program air earlier (7pm for example), some are shorter (20minutes), etc. But the key is that there is no ads either in the middle or around the program. From my point of view, this is the difference that is driving this race to the sensational.

PBS would be the equivalent here but as you said, no where near as interesting to watch.

Interesting. So there are no 24/7 news channels?

Depends on the country in Europe.

I know about BBC News in the UK, and in France, there are now 4, and soon, 5 (BFMtv, ITele, LCI, France 24, France Info).

They started doing it yeah. But I believe that there are still very little commercials. The reason being that they are part of all the standard channels everybody gets, so they get money regardless of the viewer count and don't rely on ad-income.

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