At what point are we allowed to ask whether nonstop negative news coverage is actually serving public interest? ..because I don't exactly know what I'm supposed to know, what to admit knowing about, and why there's so much “fear inducing”in the local news every night. Why are we not able to demand that any thing labeled “urgent” news and interrupting the ball game- actually be RELEVANT? Shit if you're broadcast-bombing my escape hatch… that shits ALSO needs to be urgent to the audience consuming it! Warnings about immediate danger? Absolutely, just define danger so we aren't botching about that later. . Missing children? Of course. Let's not go back to anything else until we find them, in fact. I'll go so far as to say if it's missing kids or pets… let's do it! Public safety threats? Air it immediately. Do that twice. Thrice. Corruption affecting our communities? Investigate harder. Master of fact… let me investigate it too. Let's get to the bottom of that. But somewhere information we get got streamlined to our veins to save time we somehow quit having… but didn't we quit doing things ourselves to make more time?? Our news stopped being informing and became about emotionally capturing as prep work/foreplay for someone else to step in after and feed the “information” that helped the mission. Like toothless babies we depended on that spoon fed garbage with no idea of its contents yet ate up every word. Complained about the inaccurate weather report and biased sports caster,& the rest was gospel?? Nevermind, I'm not asking- I know that's what goes on. … I'm wondering why there's a fear of AI in the future and not fear of the lack of intelligence now?. I'll quit picking on people now I promise. I just wanted to break down the ego wall with some embarrassment because it's ACTUALLY IMPORTANT INFORMATION RELEVANT TO ALL!!! Yet- Clip after uncredited clip. Crime after alleged crime fitting a mold to exploit some and protect crimes of others. Fear after potential need to have fear. Neighborhood after stigmatized scapegoated neighborhood most never even seen but believe it's close enough to get portrayed like society is collapsing in real time.Then they end the broadcast with a bullshit purchased data of a weather forecast and a sponsored smile to lead people towards yet another feeling then behavior. But it's like they didn't just chemically marinate an entire city in cortisol for 45 minutes. And here's the dangerous part nobody talks about enough: Repetition creates perceived reality. If people hear something enough, especially from television or “official” media sources, they begin treating it as fact whether it was accurate, contextualized, corrected, or not. That isn't just frustrating. It's life-altering. I know because I'm living it. A local news station ran a story about me years ago that falsely implied I stabbed an ex-boyfriend and went to prison. Neither are true. Not “technically inaccurate.” Not “missing context.” Completely false. They know it's false. Their own records requests would prove it. My criminal history would prove it. The charges literally never existed. After fighting to get it removed, they finally agreed. Then two weeks later… it quietly went back up. That story was aired in 2018. And to this day I still receive random messages from people asking me about something that never happened because once something becomes “news,” the public treats it like permanent history. Even if it's corrected later, the damage is already archived, screenshot, reposted, indexed, and consumed. Forever. So yes, I think consumers should have more say in what qualifies as “public interest” versus profitable fear recycling. Because if media companies can scientifically influence public perception, community trust, anxiety levels, paranoia, and social division through repetitive negative exposure, then we should absolutely be discussing ethical limits and accountability standards. What if local media focused more energy on: • community solutions • local heroes • resources people actually need • recovery stories • successful programs • volunteer efforts • businesses improving neighborhoods • opportunities instead of only tragedies Imagine how differently people would feel about their city if they constantly saw proof that people were helping each other instead of endless reminders of what to fear. Because eventually people stop believing in communities that are only shown to them as dangerous. And that impacts everything: investment, mental health, recovery, employment, trust, relationships, even whether people believe change is possible. I fully believe we, as consumers, have the right to question whether information is improving public safety… or simply improving ratings. And if enough of us start demanding better, maybe we can finally stop confusing “most alarming” with “most important.”
