When did you last watch a TV news broadcast?

[Kermit power]

Morning all,

I consider myself to be reasonably well informed on world events, and take in news from various sources on a daily basis, including from people like the BBC who broadcast traditional TV news, but it occurred to me just now that I honestly can't remember the last time I watched an actual TV news broadcast, and couldn't even tell you what time the various channels show their news any more.

I'd be interested to see if I'm a complete outlier in this, or if many others have gone the same way?

[devnull]

I used to have BBC news on every morning with my morning routine for years, but during the pandemic that went away. I couldn’t face listening to any of the outlets grasping at straws for something to talk about other than covid rates or agonising over what the latest daily update discussed.

[XMified]

devnull said:

I used to have BBC news on every morning with my morning routine for years, but during the pandemic that went away. I couldn’t face listening to any of the outlets grasping at straws for something to talk about other than covid rates or agonising over what the latest daily update discussed.

TV and I quietly divorced about a decade ago.

That "BBC News on in the background" thing is bad for your soul, its amazing how quality of life lifts whwn it's done away with.

[captain.scarlet]

Mainstream television channels, content and scheduling are stuck in the past to a large extent, IMO.

In this era of instant communication and technology and content as-u-like or on demand, we're reasonably well equipped and comfortable to inform and entertain ourselves on our terms.

The days of beating the traffic to get home in time to watch the 6 o'clock News or some low-budget Tonight with Julie Etchingham filler programme are long gone. I'd say that goes even for the 24-hour news channels that seem to be there as some sort of neutral programme in building lobbies and waiting areas.

Unless you're happy having it as background noise and a bit of trivia, who really wants to sit through just to wait for the recap of headlines every 15 minutes or the hourly bulletin when you can just take a quick glance at your computer or phone?

[JuanCarlosFandango]

XMified said:

TV and I quietly divorced about a decade ago.

That "BBC News on in the background" thing is bad for your soul, its amazing how quality of life lifts whwn it's done away with.

This all over.

I drifted out of it about the time of the financial crisis, after a few fruitless months of anxiety over various things I have no control over. My TV broke in about 2009 and I didn't bother to replace it until the kids demanded one a couple of years ago.

On the occasions I have caught a news broadcast since it just seems ever more banal and unrealistic. When I hear people discussing news stories it is like they are discussing soap operas.

Turn it off

[Earthdweller]

I voted weeks

But, I have to counter that by stating that’s U.K. news channels

Sky is annoying and unwatchable, the BBC, ITV etc very inward focused and repetitive

Now i find that other channels such as Fr24 or DW news can give me the “hit” I need of what’s going on in the world and offer a different perspective and a much broader spread of stories

I have to say that Covid was the main driver for my switch off from U.K. news channels

This morning for instance on Fr24 was a feature on the lorry driver strike in Spain which is now causing food and fuel shortages plus another on a ceasefire in Ethiopia.. neither of which would be covered in the U.K.

[Eric Mc]

I watch at least one TV news broadcast a day - often the BBC but by no means always. I actually get most of my news by the radio.

[Castrol for a knave]

I get my news from various sources, primarily the BBC, al Jazeera and ITN.

On top of that are various other outlets, It's all about hearing differing views.

Don't completely disregard TV news, just watch and use it selectively.

[steveo3002]

a good 8 years or more

finnaly caught on it was all lies and misery that i have no effect on

[JuanCarlosFandango]

Castrol for a knave said:

I get my news from various sources, primarily the BBC, al Jazeera and ITN.

On top of that are various other outlets, It's all about hearing differing views.

Don't completely disregard TV news, just watch and use it selectively.

I find this a bit like alcohol. People say it with good intentions, and perhaps it works for some, a bit like "a glass" of wine or "a beer" in the evening. For many it becomes a bottle or a case, a hangover and an inability to function properly. Or at least nearly as well as they could otherwise.

[deggles]

I've almost given up on broadcast news, particularly BBC. I, too, stopped watching regularly when it became the Covid circus. Apart from anything else, it's now dumbed down to the point of embarrassment. This started with Radio 1 Newsbeat feeling the need to explain things like who the Prime Minister is (for the yoof, innit). I flicked on the 10pm news the other night to hear Clive Myrie on BBC1 unable to use the word "inflation" without having to insert "or the rate that prices are rising" by way of explanation.

I might check the BBC web site for headlines every couple of days, and Al Jazeera is good for a wider world perspective. But to be honest I'd rather read Private Eye, the Onion and the Daily Mash and distill the actual important events from the satire

[Ari]

Gave up with the mainstream news when the Covid lies became so blatant.

I've seen newsreaders claiming xx thousand people have died FROM covid whilst the written headline up at the same time says 'WITH', which is a very very different thing.

[Roofless Toothless]

devnull said:

I used to have BBC news on every morning with my morning routine for years, but during the pandemic that went away. I couldn’t face listening to any of the outlets grasping at straws for something to talk about other than covid rates or agonising over what the latest daily update discussed.

I listen to a lot more radio than watch TV, and when covid struck I found the BBC R4 coverage excessive and depressing. There was nothing I could do about the situation, and I had no desire to hear more than the bare facts. So I switched to R3, which previously had been about 25% of my listening, as my primary channel. And what a brilliant job the continuity announcers did, especially when they were all sent to work from home, and they renamed it the Bedroom Broadcasting Corporation, and starting organising national singalongs out of locked down windows. They kept me sane.

I rarely watch TV news as I find it dumbed down compared to BBC radio output, and I don’t enjoy being talked to like an idiot.

[ZedLeg]

I used to watch BBC breakfast in the morning but I've not even had an aerial plugged in the last few years. Pick news up online now.

[nikaiyo2]

Most days.

Tend to watch Aljazera in the morning before work (unless Bargain Hunt is on BBC2 :P ) its fairly neutral and tends to present facts as opposed to opinion. Other than when discussing Israel then it is almost BBC levels opinions.

[Gogoplata]

devnull said:

I used to have BBC news on every morning with my morning routine for years, but during the pandemic that went away. I couldn’t face listening to any of the outlets grasping at straws for something to talk about other than covid rates or agonising over what the latest daily update discussed.

Same here. I'd have BBC or Sky news on every morning as part of my routine when I'm having breakfast & getting ready before work. Not just with Covid, but I got sick of listening to them drag every little story out, and twisting words to fit their narrative as opposed to just reporting facts.

IMO 24hr rolling news channels have been detrimental to the quality of journalism over the years.

[Roderick Spode]

Since I was a young child in the late 80s I was a voracious news hound. Watching every news bulletin on BBC and/or ITV, reading newspapers, taking a strong interest in current affairs and world events. As a student I didn't have a TV, but that was the early era of online news, so took in events via broadcasts on the BBC website, etc. The 2008 financial crash was something of an eye opener in terms of the doom mongering from the mainstream media - wall to wall 24 hour coverage of the latest disaster to befall us. I used to drive a great deal with work, and every journey was accompanied in the mornings by Today on Radio 4, and then PM on the way home. Used to make a point of listening to the 10pm news on R4 if I couldn't watch the main BBC TV output for some reason.

All that changed in 2016 with the coverage running up to the Brexit vote, when the supposedly impartial and unbiased BBC revealed themselves to be neither of those things. I was and am broadly agnostic on the subject of Brexit, but the breathless hysteria perpetrated as fact by the BBC became very tiresome. Facts and figures were overtaken by emotion and feeling, where presenters and journalists integrated their personal opinions into what should have been dispassionate and factual news output. The disbelief on the morning after the vote was palpable - the media could not understand how they (the voting public) could be stupid enough to choose Brexit. It amused and reviled me in equal measure.

Fast forward to February 2020, and the Covid fear & hysteria peddled by the main news outlets was incredible. Many elderly people were told they were at imminent risk of something terrible, and even now two years on there are some who cannot let go of that negative potential outcome. The media have a lot to answer for in terms of both the public & the government response to Covid. 24 hour wall to wall doom mongering, for nigh on two years. I don't understand why anyone would choose to subject themselves to that on a daily basis willingly.

[captain.scarlet]

Roderick, you're not alone in your thoughts there and it seems a lot of us felt the same.

I think circa 2004 is when ITN began to dumb down their news bulletins, and 2006/7 is when BBC News's dumbing down definitely became noticeable, particularly with the likes of Natasha Kaplinsky.

I simply can't trust these same has-been faces in their style and quality of newsreading to be informing me in any edifying way.

[BeastieBoy73]

Never really been one to keep up with the news but started actively avoiding it around the Brexit vote.

I found that it was more 'opinion' than 'news' and those opinions were very polarised for leave or remain with little middle ground.

I wasn't fussed either way (I'm still not) so the news just did my head in.

I'm getting on a bit now (nearly 50) and reckon that most of my useful/active life is behind me and what time I have left is best spent concentrating on the fun stuff.

From what I remember of the news, it was more miserable than fun so I've not got time for that anymore.

Family and friends have needed reminding that I don't really know what they're on about if something in the news comes up in conversation.

I get accused of having my head buried in the sand but I can live with that.

I see no point in fretting about stuff I can't do anything about.

[I am alright Jack]

This morning I had my TV on GB news with Ellie Costello. When the ads came on I switched to ITV with Charlotte Hawkins.

Both easy on the eye and after 10 minutes all the news is the same anyway.