# I'm done with network news broadcasts **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 31, 2026, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-done-with-network-news-broadcasts/1032717 "2026-08-31T15:39:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2026, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-done-with-network-news-broadcasts/1032717/41 "2026-08-31T19:30:29Z")
I don’t watch local news for all the reasons described here. After the election I turned off CNN. No more of that. It’s like an addictive drug. I felt withdrawal pains going cold Turkey. For a couple days. Now I’m a much happier person. I get the “well, what if a meteor is headed directly for you?” Do I need to know about it? I don’t think I want to. Anything really important will make itself known to me. I might go check if CNN is covering it. Briefly. I move on. I read 2 papers a day. Listen to the banter of my young adults. I know plenty, tyvm. Weather? Got a weather radio. It’s set to alarm for tornado or flood. A few windows I look out of. Oh, and my hair. It responds to barometric pressures in odd ways. Hate the news programs around here. The reporters are all idiotic. One, I swear, is an alien from space. Looks just like a tall grey. 👽 ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2026, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-done-with-network-news-broadcasts/1032717/42 "2026-08-31T19:37:12Z")
I haven’t watched Network news or any TV news at all for the last 26 years. I haven’t missed it. I get all my news online from sources that I consider reputable. One of those sources is here. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2026, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-done-with-network-news-broadcasts/1032717/43 "2026-08-31T23:31:56Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I would love for you to watch this clip and comment: Genuine frontier gibberish. Anyone who would take that seriously deserves to be fleeced. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2026, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-done-with-network-news-broadcasts/1032717/44 "2026-09-01T20:18:36Z")
> [@Llama\_Llogophile](#): > > Marshall McLuhan Our NBC affiliate does as well; they’ve had several stories exposing pretty deep local corruption and incompetence, and a few national-level stories as well. But our newspaper is still kicking, or so I believe, and they do a lot of good investigative stuff as well. I can’t say that I’ve seen very many TV news editorials, certainly not as a regular thing. ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2026, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-done-with-network-news-broadcasts/1032717/45 "2026-09-01T23:44:13Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > _I remember Dan Rather, Peter Jennings, and Tom Brokaw._ And Walter Cronkite, Roger Mudd, Harry Reasoner, Chet Huntley and David Brinkley, Charles Kuralt and all the other **Real Journalists** who held down the anchor desk at the Big 3 networks in my lifetime. They were trusted and respected, as were the correspondents who reported the stories from bureaus around the world, too numerous to mention. We haven’t watched a network newscast in decades. Too much glitz, too much pandering to short attention spans and not enough news. PBS News Hour…we watch it every night, going back to the McNeil-Lehrer Report. It’s NEWS, with great reporters who really know their beats. It’s unfortunate that with all the budget cuts at PBS they had to discontinue the weekend broadcasts anchored by John Yang. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-done-with-network-news-broadcasts/1032717/46 "2026-09-02T04:46:21Z")
> [@XOldiesJock](#): > > PBS News Hour…we watch it every night, going back to the McNeil-Lehrer Report. It’s NEWS, with great reporters who really know their beats. Yep, as I said before, that’s the best TV news around. I finally stopped calling it McNeil-Lehrer a couple of years ago. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-done-with-network-news-broadcasts/1032717/47 "2026-09-02T06:14:35Z")
The only reason I leave the network news on is that our local, independently owned station does a 30-minute “in depth” segment after the network time slot where they’ll focus on a particular topic, often with viewer questions and input. Our local news is still pretty decent; some of the anchors are actual journalists, and a couple of the meteorologists are absolute weather nerds, making their explanations interesting to hear. One of them has even acknowledged the decline in the quality of their forecasting ability. Their “weather alert” days do get tiresome, and are abused IMO…more often than not the severe weather impacts areas on the fringes of the viewing area. But overall I would much rather watch local coverage. That’s not to say there haven’t been serious changes, but I think it’s just station management chasing a different demographic. The lunchtime agriculture reports are long gone, and they recently let go one guy whose job was traveling the state and collecting viewer stories to turn into segments. Of course, with election season upon us, I’m rapidly approaching the point where the TV will be switched over to Cartoon Network as soon as I get home. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-done-with-network-news-broadcasts/1032717/48 "2026-09-02T09:14:25Z")
I think I went off of it longer ago, simply because it takes too long to give me the information I want. I get why they are apparently trying to make it entertaining or captivating. They’re competing against just reading through a few headlines, checking out the ones that actually seem relevant or interesting, and being done in five minutes and back to doing things more pleasant. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2026, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-done-with-network-news-broadcasts/1032717/49 "2026-09-20T18:47:30Z")
But… But… She had such _positive energy_ surrounding her!!! ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2026, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-done-with-network-news-broadcasts/1032717/50 "2026-09-21T14:17:52Z")
This morning I read a Twitter post from a MAGAite proudly declaring that he avoids “legacy media” and gets all his news from “independent journalists” and Twitter. He has lots of counterparts all over the political spectrum. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2026, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-done-with-network-news-broadcasts/1032717/51 "2026-09-21T17:57:14Z")
I only watch the news when I feel the need to be scared but don’t know what to be scared about–they’ll always tell me. And since President Trump has barred MSNBC & CNN from his press briefings I’m not sure they’re even worth watching now. If they’re not good enough to report on the president, what are they good for? Believe half of what you see (with your own wet squishy eyeballs, not on a screen), and none of what you hear. I may not know much about what’s going on in the world today, but at least I can’t believe any of the lies going around if I don’t hear 'em. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2026, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-done-with-network-news-broadcasts/1032717/52 "2026-09-21T20:00:51Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > And since President Trump has barred MSNBC & CNN from his press briefings I’m not sure they’re even worth watching now. I just saw where all of the news services have boycotted him. He gave some spiel with a bunch of hardhats somewhere, and none of the major media showed up for it. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2026, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-done-with-network-news-broadcasts/1032717/53 "2026-09-22T15:28:24Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I just saw where all of the news services have boycotted him. For those who have not seen this elsewhere; it’s not technically “all” of the news services, but the other four major US television news networks (CBS, NBC, ABC, and Fox News), in support of CNN, and in protest of him barring CNN, MS Now (the new-ish name for what was MSNBC), and Politico: > [@](#): > > CNN normally participates in a five-network rotation that provides pooled footage of daily events at the White House. When the network was barred from taking its assigned turn on Monday, ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox News agreed collectively to the extraordinary step of skipping Trump’s helipad ceremony. > **[Trump inaugurates new White House helipad, but networks skip coverage during...](https://apnews.com/article/trump-helipad-cnn-ban-press-xi-61667fb3faaa9a7e9cfc9ffb4f7dc90e)** > > President Trump has unveiled a new White House helicopter landing pad while trying to downplay a First Amendment firestorm. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-done-with-network-news-broadcasts/1032717.md?page=2)