Maybe ignorance is bliss......

Listening to James O'Brien on LBC at the moment. I watch the Daily Politics at lunchtime and Channel 4 New in the evening. Andrew Marr at the weekend. Sometimes France 24 (in English) which is good at overseas news.

I think the reason that the likes of Mark Francois and the other extreme Brexiteers used to be on the news frequently is two fold. The BBC in particular must be seen to have balance and the more reasonable politicians are too busy to be interviewed.

In order to protect what's left of my sanity, I haven't watched any news since March and I've managed to avoid all of the Boris shows. I know people who watch everything and they are constantly terrified. I do scan the headlines, so I still know what's being said, though I take much of it with a pinch of salt. (Lettuce frenzy, for example.)

Dh watches or listens to it way more than I do. I honestly think he positively enjoys wallowing in how rubbish verything is.

For a while now I’ve taken the view that since there’s sod all I can do about any of it (COVID precautions excepted of course)
I will not let myself be bombarded with unrelenting gloom. I used to listen to R4 a lot but mostly stopped when there was so much of the dreaded B-word.

Now I most have Classic FM on, but often switch off for the news, ditto the most annoying ads (most of them.).

We do still have a daily paper though, and I do look at that every day, albeit a fairly quick flick. Dh spends a good hour with it.

My father's a retired journalist & I'm a retired librarian so news has always been something very much in our daily lives. But at the beginning of the pandemic I found it too depressing so I blocked a few aggressive news posters on Twitter, and changed my home page on my computer to that of BBC Sport rather than news.

Oddly enough I found reading how the pandemic was affecting the rest of the world, and lord knows they've had it far worse than us in some areas, made me feel better or perhaps more accepting of how thing are, I can't explain why.

Now I check the headlines in the morning, don't watch any press-conferences, but I do have the BBC online live up-dates window open and check on that now and then.

One thing I do not understand is sensationalist headlines in the newspaper. Scare-mongering does not help. Stirring up peoples fears creates so much negativity. Take 'Christmas is cancelled'. It isn't! It's just going to be done differently this year.

Galaxy

I also dont know if I believe people when they say they dont watch the news. They may not sit and watch a news channel but they will use facebook or have the radio on. There wont be a person in this country who soesnt know about covid for example.

Oh I dunno. Kate and William are usually hot on setting an example, but even they didn't seem to know the rules about meeting other households. I don't believe they would have broken them deliberately.

It doesn’t matter the subject they always find so called “experts” to come on and pontificate. Drives me crazy.

My DH was a avid bbc news watcher, not any more to much even for him ,don't want to be told how many died want to know how many left ICU Also went through a phase of reading headlines to me from Facebook also sharing it till the day I challenged him asked what he was doing sharing such a hate filled, untrue post,his answer only read headline made him listen to me reading full article . Stopped him in his tracks

I like to hear the news once a day. That keeps me up to date but not obsessed.

I used to have Sky rolling news on the tv as background noise but can't bear to hear the Leftie slant on every channel anymore, so now I just look at the online news a couple of times a day.

If we had always been fed the daily deaths rates in the past, you would see it's not that much different now. About 500,000 die in the UK every year and about 750,000 are born so we're certainly not losing any population. Added to this, more are still coming in than leaving so what are your suggestions as to how the country can cope in the future with all the lists of wants and demands you have from the government?

I remember the time when we had to wait until the newspapers were published before we knew what was going on.

I just watch the news to get the main giant, and then switch to something more enjoyable.

Too much news about COVID and Brexit puts up my blood pressure.
Try watching Euro news. It’s no less depressing but it gives a new slant on what other countries are doing. I’ve attached a link as an example.
www.euronews.com/2020/12/21/denmark-to-dig-up-and-incinerate-millions-of-culled-mink-over-pollution-fears

Not so much ignorance is bliss, but you can filter what and how much you watch news broadcasts. There is a lot of exaggeration and hype. Reporters need stories and unfortunately some are taken largely out of context and repeated frequently. It doesn't make them right.

I've moved to only watching the newspaper reviews at 2230 and 2330 on BBC. Their different nightly guests give a more balanced view and insight on what's going on. I find it informative but not frightening.

We only watch the news on TV twice a day. It keeps us up to date with what's happening in the world but not overloaded with doom and gloom. I turned off the news feeds on my tablet and computer as most of the time it doesn't interest me.

I'm a news watcher, etc and I get told off for it by my friends because the worrier that I am gets me in a panic at times. Feel like I need to know what's going on at minute because it changes from day to day, well hour to hour....but then I fret sitting alone overthinking at times.

Ignorance is certainly bliss, it doesn't bother me that I never watch, listen or read the news. Some argue that without the news you can't make an informed decision when voting. You can if you read Hansard.

Dragonfly46.. totally agree with you and add Robert peston too the pair of them want sacking IMO...

Yes dragonfly I heartily agree with you! Before all this started I emailed the BBC complaining about their coverage of Brexit and Laura Kuenssberg specifically. It’s got worse with Covid?

Normally I always listen to national and local news at 6pm. Nowadays I listen to the headlines once a day and then choose whether to get more detail. I was finding listening to all of it wearing and depressing and not doing my mood much good!!

I've realised that I watch far too much news. Doom scrolling eats up ones time. I'm trying to change my habits for the better. One is a million years dead. Why waste it watching so much negativity.

And anyway, some of the questions asked and the slant put on gge reporting is so obvious, biased and exaggerated that I cant see much point most of the time. Sick if the "catch them out" games.

Felt rather the same about the politicians pointless spin and gunghoism as well!

I believe Laura K is chief political editor for the BBC. She reports the news and asks pertinent questions at the government briefings, ie, she is doing her job. If you prefer radio, Radio 4 Today programme is enlightening, also LBC 10.00-13.00 The James O'Brien show is well worth a listen..

Merry Christmas to every one from me and my husband.Hope you all keep safe and well x

Newspapers and TV reports seem to drown us in negativity - so much is speculation, and doom mongering. A sub headline in my paper said 'Ten years before we are back to normal'. At my age that was an absolute heartsink moment but, reading on, the 'expert' had said that by the Spring we should be almost back to normal and absolute normality will perhaps take a year or two - maybe ten, he couldn't say. Slighty different, eh? I've also read today that 80% of the goods shipped into this county arrive unnacompanied and therefore not subject to delays. As for Laura Kuenssberg - I respected her for her intelligent political reporting. After her awful performances during the five o clock reports of the summer, I see her now as a cynical, critical harpy who keeps asking the same question without listening to the answer.