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Comment by snarf21 | Hacker News Reader

The problem is that it isn't really the "news". It is infotainment. I'm not talking about the fact that truth is subjective and every story has a lens.

The truth of the matter is that the story (and "updates") are all crafted specifically to be addictive, to be click bait. It isn't about sharing information or exposing the truth. All that matters is ad revenue. I do get it that we need to pay journalists. It has become clear we need a new system. I guess NPR kinda has a solution via patronage. If only we could now get more different viewpoints this way. God knows we have enough multi-billionares to fund it.

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News is not news. It is entertainment. Pick your flavor and let them tell you how to feel.

It is designed to be addictive. Either by accident or deliberate is up for debate. I have my opinion on it but it is just that. They use your own feelings to manipulate you into watching/clicking for more. Facts matter little, feelings do in this segment of our world. Mr. Bernays should be proud of the monster he set loose upon us. Even the vaunted NPR does this. I noticed it years ago after a drive across the country and realizing they try to make it look like they were investigating things and not just reading something of one of the 4 or 5 news wires.

> Even the vaunted NPR does this.

I recently upped my monthly donation to my local NPR station, and I feel like if anything it's made me more critical of them. Probably most of it is that I lean politically Right, and they lean Left. But it feels like sometimes they just go out of their way to try to check all the boxes of "woke" culture, whatever the hell that is.

The example that sticks out in my mind is they did a piece on immigration detention centers a few weeks back (no qualms there). The person they chose to interview was a transgender Guatamalen.

It's basically the most on-brand thing the reporter could have done. Talking about immigration? Better throw in some LGBT issues as well.

It's too much I guess to expect a news organization to just report on the news.

When I get feeling really irritated about it, I calm myself down by rationalizing that I like the music they play in the evenings.

Without having listened to that piece, it occurs to me that one reason for specifically including the perspective of a transgender individual in the radio segment may have been that under the current administration there have been _major_ changes to our country's policies around asylum. "Fear of persecution for sexual orientation or transgender status" is one of the one of the more common reasons that people seek asylum in the US, after all. Just a thought...

I found the article [1]. Looks like they crossed Coronavirus off the bingo card too.

Like I said, it's perfectly on-brand for them.

My wife and I have a running joke (which I think I've seen pop up elsewhere too) about how Terry Gross picks her interview guests based on how many items the guest ticks on the "diversity checklist"

[1] https://www.npr.org/2020/07/01/871625210/you-can-either-be-a...

You are clearly right on the topic of intentionally addictive click bait.

> that long-sought serenity

But i don't think changing your input is related to gaining that long-sought serenity - in a sense of being immune to those inputs if required.

I my opinion it boils down to being human and being to some degree a puppet of your brain chemistry, meaning we can search for said serenity but are propably doomed to never find it.

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