I love the talks available online from the TED conferences which are held every year in California. The site is ted.com and there are numerous short presentations from some of the world's leading minds. TED's tagline is "Ideas worth spreading." Take the time to watch this short (about 5 mins) talk about the world view as presented to the United States from the news. Then tell me what you think.
I spend most of my time trying to be informed about the world by watching/reading the news. I've always liked the news, even as a child, (granted a child who was born wanting to be a grown-up). I used to sit with my parents and watch the news at night. I even remember following the presidential race of 1984, when I was all of 5 years old.
My old age, and the influence of my husband, has made me more cynical about the news. I now realize that it is like any other industry or corporation and is motivated by it's bottom line. I've seen this evidenced in the amount of entertainment news that is mixed in with traditional news stories. It has been taken to extremes in some of the cable networks who seek to attract a specific demographic (more loyalty and profit) at the expense of balanced and fair coverage of the news. There has even been a move to promote "for entertainment only" shows in a news format that, once free from the journalistic standards of proof and accuracy, are driven even more toward increasing the bottom line.
Despite this, I still look to the news several times a day, especially online. It's fast, and interesting, and makes me feel like I could have a somewhat informed conversation about something should the opportunity arise. Given the information in this video, it seems that while I may appear informed, it is superficial at best, and that is at the heart of what I want to change about myself, not appear intelligent, actually be intelligent.
So what do I do to become more informed about the world, not just my corner of it? What sources of information do you all turn to and do you "trust" them, or are they convenient more than anything? Can the content value of any commercially marketed media product, be it television, books, newspapers, magazines etc., ever be truly separated from it's market value?
