Posted BY: Tom Keltner
The mainstream news media have mutated from providing useful information into multi-biased, overbearing, omnipresent purveyors of false, useless information that is critical for them to report and useless for us to receive. This must stop.
In the past, the metaphorical 100 pounds of available fact-based news (as opposed to opinion pieces) was reported through news distribution with a roughly 100-pound news distribution capacity. That is, there was a relative equilibrium between “what news you needed to hear” and “what news was reported.” The components of this historical news distribution were:
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- Three television stations. Each had about two-and-a-half hours of local news and only a half-hour of national news daily. A handful of weekend news shows (Meet the Press, 60 Minutes, etc.). Also, a few clearly marked “opinion” shows, such as Edward R. Murrow, Eric Sevareid, and others. So, let’s add an hour a day for that.
- Newspapers. You spent maybe one hour leafing through for “news,” along with classifieds, comics, and advertising.
- Magazines. Maybe 70% pictures, 20% advertising, and 10% informative reporting
- Radio. Maybe on your way to and from work for 15 minutes of news a day.
- No internet, no cable channels, no UHF channels, no “social” media, etc.
