Maybe information is the correct word instead of knowledge. I’ve been giving a good amount of thought to what I pay attention to lately. I’ve started paying money for a few inexpensive online news sources and podcasts that I frequently use. My reasoning is this: TV and Radio can be very entertaining, fun, and interesting, but the primary purpose of these media outlets is to MAKE MONEY. They sell advertisements, the sell product placements, they cross promote, they spin things to mold their message a certain way, they omit parts of the truth to help sway your opinion. Even though I like listening to some of the talk radio shows, I can’t stand the constant commercial breaks that seem to go on for more than half of the duration of the program itself.
I’m also really turned off by the liberal bias of the majority of the stuff on TV. Many of the TV networks (NBC is probably the worst) are not much more than cheerleaders for the folks in power right now.
The good news is that there is a wealth of information available on the Internet. The Internet is to the grassroots journalist what the handgun is to the common man, the great equalizer. Bill Whittle explains it very nicely here. These people can get their programs out at a very low cost, and I get better content without commercials or spin. I think this is worth hard cash, and I pay for it.
Oh, and if you think watching normal TV is ‘free’, remember what that means. Your brain is being controlled, advertising and marketing does work!
