For many journalists, it’s a point of pride to consume as much media as possible, as much of the time as possible. We think this makes us informed, better at our jobs.
So it caused a stir last week when American journalist Amanda Ripley admitted, in The Washington Post no less, that she’s been avoiding the news for years — like an increasing number of Americans, and Canadians. And, it turns out, journalists.
Amanda Ripley’s piece is titled, “I stopped reading the news — is the problem me, or the product?” In it, she poses a question that few have been willing to ask. And that is: “If so many of us feel poisoned by our products, might there be something wrong with them?”
Amanda Ripley is a contributor to the The Washington Post and The Atlantic. Her most recent book is High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out.
Amanda Ripley is my guest, today on the Lean Out podcast. And I’ll be sending out a transcript tomorrow.
'I stopped reading the news'
I think mainstream media’s mask really slipped during Covid. They were so clearly acting like shills for the government. I used to regularly listen to the CBC and tolerated their left wing bias. But around 3 years ago I stopped completely. Literally everything that comes out of the CBC supports the progressive narrative. They are simply not trustworthy. Their coverage of the convoy protests show they literally despise ordinary working Canadians.
People aren’t paying attention to traditional media because they know it’s mostly fake news, in the sense that they all walk in lock step with the narrative of the day and don’t present alternative viewpoints that might be a hint controversial.