So where do you get your news? It's more important than you think. One of the best examples of how it's significant is Detroit Michigan and Windsor Canada. The two cities are physically side by side. Detroit is one of the most violent cities in America and Windsor is one of the safest cities in Canada. Even as crime in the United States is decreasing, Detroit still averages about one murder every day and a half. Windsor Canada just had 27 month period of no murders at all.
Now you might wonder about the Canadians, how are they so different than their neighbors? In most ways they are not. Canadians own guns at about the same percentage as Americans. Canadians play violent video games and are entertained by Hollywood movies. The one big difference is where they get their news.
The people in Windsor get their news from the CBC, the Canadian Broadcast Corporation. The CBC is a lot like Public Radio and TV in the states.
The people in Detroit get their news from a number of local and nationally syndicated stations. The local news out of Detroit is like the local news broadcasts in many other American cities. It is filled with short sensational stories of crime, "if it bleeds -it leads" remains the rule. None of the stories are reported in depth or at length. Serious news is often mixed in with entertainment fluff, useless trivialities and plenty of advertisements. Then it's all followed by weather and sports. And if you want to know how much local news broadcasters really value serious news -most local station pay their meteorologist more than their news anchor.
I am not for a government take over of broadcast news (like the CBC or BBC model) but I do ask people to think about where they get their news. After you watch your local news, do you feel scared? -anxious? -worried that you can not trust your neighbors? If you do -turn your TV off. Exercise the power of personal choice, choose not to be manipulated by fear mongers who are making your town a crappier place to live.
PS. I'd like to thank Billy J Vansant for the image at the top of the post.
I rely on mostly on radio to get my news.For in depth national and international news coverage,I trust public radio to bring me unbiased and in depth coverage.For local and community news and information,I trust my local community station to fill that need.I find network and cable news for the most part to be issue/cause oriented,driven by advertising and presented by news readers who are groomed and pampered like show dogs.
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