Anxious About The News

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You know, I've posted this before, but I think it should bear repeating in light of recent events.

All of this news about the government and foreign affairs (I won't elaborate) has me anxious about the future, and what will happen. I sometimes fear the worse, but I also have to tell myself that things may not be as bad as they seem.

And then, all of the news I hear is largely out of my control. And I have to, at the same time, have to live my life the best I can in spite of what's going on.

It's one thing to be informed, but to let all that news disrupt your life to the point where you just can't live it properly is quite another.

I sure hope I'm not the only one who has such anxieties, as I'm willing to talk about them. Thank you.

The NEWS distorts reality.

News is a money making industry. One that doesn't always make the goal to report the facts accurately. Gone are the days of tuning in to be informed straightforwardly about local and national issues. In truth, watching the news can be a psychologically risky pursuit, which could undermine your mental and physical health.

Fear-based news stories prey on the anxieties we all have and then hold us hostage. Being glued to the television, reading the paper or surfing the Internet increases ratings and market shares - but it also raises the probability of depression relapse. In previous decades, the journalistic mission was to report the news as it actually happened, with fairness, balance, and integrity. However, capitalistic motives associated with journalism have forced much of today's television news to look to the spectacular, the stirring, and the controversial as news stories. It's no longer a race to break the story first or get the facts right. Instead, it's to acquire good ratings in order to get advertisers, so that profits soar.

News programming uses a hierarchy if it bleeds, it leads. Fear-based news programming has two aims. The first is to grab the viewer's attention. In the news media, this is called the teaser. The second aim is to persuade the viewer that the solution for reducing the identified fear will be in the news story. If a teaser asks, "What's in your tap water that YOU need to know about?" a viewer will likely tune in to get the up-to-date information to ensure safety. The success of fear-based news relies on presenting dramatic anecdotes in place of scientific evidence, promoting isolated events as trends, depicting categories of people as dangerous and replacing optimism with fatalistic thinking. News conglomerates who want to achieve this use media logic, by tweaking the rhythm, grammar, and presentation format of news stories to elicit the greatest impact. Did you know that some news stations work with consultants who offer fear-based topics that are pre-scripted, outlined with point-of-view shots, and have experts at-the-ready? This practice is known as stunting or just-add-water reporting. Often, these practices present misleading information and promote anxiety in the viewer.

Source: If It Bleeds, It Leads: Understanding Fear-Based Media

^ Yes, that is the point I've been trying to make, the "If it bleeds, it leads" theory is the one thing that the media in the U.S. has been a major selling point.

I understand you.

Remember the song “Dirty Laundry?” (I forget the group that recorded this gem.)

The media, in general, of all political persuasions in the USA have amped it up past 100.

My biggest beef nowadays is there really isn’t any local ownership nowadays. For example:

Network Broadcast:
NBC—>Comcast
CBS—>American Amusements
ABC—>Disney
Fox—>News Corp of Australia
CW—>Paramounr/CBS
PBS—>Uncle Sugar (or Uncle Sh!t, if you prefer)
CNN—>Ted Turner/Time-Life (who I trust even less than Rupert Murdoch)

Print:

Post/Newsweek—>Jeff Bezos
USA Today—>Gannett (plus several hundred local newspapers, who have adopted the McNewspaper format.)
Knight-Ridder
Tribune Media

Local broadcast

Sinclair
Tribune Media
TEGNA (formerly Gannet Briadcasting)
Hearst/Argyle
Cox
Cumulus Broadcasting
i Radio

Need I say more?

Ron Childers, longtime professor of Reference services in the School of Library and Information sciences at Drexel University called it nearly 40 years ago about only a handful of big media companies controlling both conduit and content of information. It’s not big government we should have worried about access to information: it’s big business we should have been concerned about! Unfortunately, it’s now too late, comrade!

The fear you have is like a cat that looks for danger in every room before settling down. This is caused by parts of your brain that has helped your ancestors succeed in the past. Are you a descendant of people who had to flee wars or escape abuse?

Look up inner mammal institute and see the resources there to help you manage your excellently attuned instincts.

Almost all of the media is owned by just 6 companies. Hopefully we will have another president that resembles the founding fathers, FDR, or any other president that was a really amazing president to solve these issues we have in western society.

I’m not concerned with the news. I think it’s all lies anyway.

Sometimes it helps to limit your exposure. A lot of times I just take a peek at the BBC news website to get an idea what's going on and then go on with my day. I mean getting your head filled with a bunch of horrible/worrying things you yourself can't do much about is going to overwhelm and stress anyone out.

Nothing wrong with saying 'this is too much right now, I need to take some time for myself now'.

That said with all the things that are going on, I think it would be kind of silly not to be a little anxious at least...I mean there are some real issues and plenty to worry about I mean I don't think I have seen my country in so much turmoil in my lifetime. But if you just worry and worry how is that going to help if one of these problems does end up directly impacting your life. Also depending on how things go...might as well enjoy things when you can, try to live in the moment, without letting worries of the future ruin every moment.