Hacker News Reader

Comment by bsenftner | Hacker News Reader

We placed trust in News outlets, and they abused that trust to a criminal, near civil war. Let them all go bankrupt.

Glad to hear you don't read any news, presumably including the link to CNBC you submitted.

What's your alternative?

Not who you're asking, but my alternative is simply interacting with people around me. I'll hear about basically everything from someone running their mouth, half the time it's their biases and bullshit spewing out, the other half it's actual pertinent information. That's significantly less biases and bullshit than if I followed news, and much less time spent pretending to care, so it's a win for me.

Oh, so hearsay. It's much less efficient to have to ask multiple people for their summaries of the news every day instead of reading a newspaper.

The news is hearsay with a veneer of officialness.

I don't ask. You don't have to. If it's important you'll hear about it passively. You'll also hear about unimportant things, but far fewer unimportant things than if you actively looked for pertinent information.

I decide what to learn about, you let others decide for you.

> The news is hearsay with a veneer of officialness [sic]

(I'm guessing you meant officiality?) So "the news is hearsay," and you just get hearsay of that hearsay? Not seeing the benefit.

You don't decide shit. You're consuming what some executive wants you to.

I choose what to care about. I hear about what's happening, same as you, except I don't sit anxiously in front of a box to do it, and I don't get told what to think and feel about it.

I decided what to read. You passively wait for someone else to tell you what's newsworthy. I guess you sitting anxiously in front of your laptop doesn't count?

Does the news you're looking at reddit and Twitter for come with any commentary by chance? If so you're getting told what to think and feel about it.

Abolish 24/7 news networks to start. They provide 0 benefit to society.

> presumably including the link to CNBC you submitted.

Not sure who you're talking to here. I've never submitted any CNBC anything anywhere.

Alternatives are Hacker News, Reddit's /r/news & r/worldnews, and then my network of friends that includes working political/economics journalists, ACLU & NGO attorneys and friends that became congress people. Plus my wife has a stellar curated twitter feed.

Yes you have https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28480214

I thought your alternative was "interacting with people around me," but now you're listing websites? Websites that link to NEWS articles?! That's just reading the news with extra steps.

You seem to be confusing me with someone else, or your posting style attributes things to people and you're connecting the wrong people.

Nope, you're the listed submitter of this link to CNBC, see the part that says "by bsenftner 10 months ago?": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28480214

Here's your original comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32076299

It says "let them all go bankrupt," but then you say you read news sites that you find on reddit and Twitter regularly. Wouldn't that be harder if they all went bankrupt?

Oh, you got me. 10 months ago I submitted a news link. Do you have an issue with secondary thinking? When I say "let them all go bankrupt" I and stating I'd like to see market forces stress them to stop their poor reporting practices or go bankrupt." does this need to be explained explicitly to you?

Agreed, "I've never submitted any CNBC anything anywhere" is not true, and you don't want to "let them all go bankrupt."

So why do you visit aggregators to find links to and read these news articles, when their reporting practices are so poor? I asked you for an alternative to them.

You are a market force, your engagement with CNBC and other mainstream media via reddit and Twitter encourages whatever reporting practices they use.

> So why do you visit aggregators to find links to and read these news articles, when their reporting practices are so poor?

I read the comments first, assess if the article is worth reading. And why read them at all? There is nothing else to learn what is happening outside my sphere without disrupting my life to find out.

So that's not an alternative. You're reading news from the places you claimed "abused that trust to a criminal, near civil war!"

Who do you trust instead?

NPR and PBS

I second this. I don't understand why you were down-voted. Somebody asked a question about who you trust and you answered it directly. You didn't ask, but I too trust NPR & PBS.

Generally long form content

Reply on news.ycombinator.com