Cable News = Confirmation Bias

Over the years we’ve witnessed a downfall of cable television. in particular, we’re talking about the downfall of cable news. the mass media giants that control most of the way people view the country from a little studio somewhere. Growing up we would watch something called New York one, now branded as spectrum news 1. this was a channel that provided basic news about what happened today in the city, what the weather was like this morning, how the traffic is on the morning commutes to make it through rush hour. these are the types of things that I believe news outlets should be focusing on, trying to provide us with the things we need and the news we must hear. And for a while it really was this way, people would tune into the news every morning, at 6:00 o’clock to get updates, and even at 10:00 PM again to see what’s going on tomorrow and what they may have missed from earlier broadcasts. the news used to be a real middle ground, you’d hear scary things about what was going on in the world around you, and you’d hear about celebrities’ new babies. I even remember before social media was the place where people promote their business, People would even come on the early news broadcast to advertise an upcoming event or show. The news truly was a middle ground, and something I’d have even considered an asset.

Now I feel as if the news is the worst channel you could possibly flip to at any time of the day. today news stations are about two things. The weather and whichever political party is paying them the most money. though the evolution of this political hellscape of news channels was slow. There are obvious correlations to how these mass media giants started to shift just before the 2016 elections. in the years before this live broadcast polarization, news channels were beginning to feel an extreme breath down their neck. Streaming numbers were dropping, salaries were dropping, donations were dropping, and the news honestly was getting eaten alive by social media and the different apps that provided our news throughout the day. where the news was able to really find their bread and butter was by the obvious pandering to the lowest common denominator. TRUMP. whether you were for or against the man your news channels were easy to identify. If you loved him, you turned the channel to Fox and if you hated him you put on NBC. The choices were seemingly cut and clear.

From this week’s class, one of the most interesting things I’ve learned was when we spoke about angertainment. As soon as I learned what this meant it brought all my feelings into a single word. these news channels rely on igniting people to be passionate about some of their worst feelings. If you supported the radical things that trump was saying then you were right at home, confirmation bias for as far as one can see. And if you hated what was happening then you receive the same. so at this point what should even happen, is people get to sit home and flip to a channel that they like and hear things that they want to hear from people that they want to hear from. the funniest part is that the people they’re hearing it from probably don’t give a damn. They are there to make money, to do their job, and most importantly, to make you turn back in tomorrow. And it seems like they found the perfect formula. Broadcast an opinion that some people would agree with, and let your opposition broadcast the other side of the opinion, all the news companies make money, and the whole world turns on itself. Seems like a pretty easy and harmless quick buck right?
what could go wrong? are people gonna storm the capital or something? Nah No way. Right?

^ Me whenever someone tells me Trump had good ideas^