The News junkie got into rehab

In december 2008: "Hi my name is Kolka and Im a news junkie"

Well not anymore. I got over my addiction, at least for now. Granted, I dont live in a cave and I would have a hard time not knowing ANYTHING about current events but it is fair to say that my taste in news has changed, could I say evolved? Not sure.

During my years at fr24 (and even before that and a little after) I could not stand losing out on big events. I had to know exactly what was happening, when, where and who was involved. I often read 4-5 different pieces on the same topic, mostly concerning international events, political meetings, war stories, even got interested in economy and since I was in France I had to know everything happening in French politics. I read and I read, watched and listened, thought I knew alot and yet the question of "why is this newsworthy" would creep up all the time. No matter how much I read or watched, I was always reading/hearing the same story. I found myself asking "why" alot. Why are these decisions being taken? Why is this person involved? Why are we reporting on this? And the answers I got were seldom good enough ("all the other channels are doing it" "because we are in France" was another popular one at work) The bigger picture was missing. Of course, working on an international news channel, I had to know these things to do my job properly, at least on the surface. I got pretty good at reading the headlines and getting the repeated information every news corporation was interested in into my head to then repeate it to anyone who wanted to listen. But what started to happen was that I started losing interest. There were so few backstories or real analysis that all these "facts and figures" stopped being relevant. Who cared really? Maybe some unidentified "leaders" (france 24 convinced itself it was the channel of leaders) but the lamda viewer had very limited interest. 

So I kicked the habit but it's not a 12-step program to stop completely, seriously its not like its killing my liver (although the stress might eventually contribute to serious health problems) and of course I still watch the news, whenever I can. Or let me correct that. I watch the national news whenever I can and I check some newssite on the internet when Im in the mood. Im on a little break from 24 hour news channels because you can't watch them longer than 15 minutes without seeing them repeat themselves. I like long news programs that are at least 30 minutes. I never thought I would say this but I like the little "neighbory" stories of what is happening in my area (Now some very important dead news people are turning themselves in their graves!). Im still interested in what is happening in other parts of the world and Im very happy to follow politics wherever in the western world but I also like the lighter parts of the program, where guests come to speak about cultural events happening this week and the chef shows you some seasonal recipies to try at home. I think this all goes together. What I dont want is 10 minutes of war images followed by an empty analysis by a journalist reading the AP wires plus 5 minutes of dead protestors in Thailand and then the weather without a friendly weatherman. I have my iphone for that. If I want AP wires I get the AP application. If I want to know if its good weather tomorrow, I check my phone. 

Things have changed. Or maybe I just have. I remember the arrogance of us newsjunkies, we thought we were so much better because we cared about Afghanistan and that people who wanted to see how the watersupply next door got polluted were stupid. Who is stupid now?

But Bad habits are hard to break - I do have a confession to make, I have two "breaking news" applications on my phone plus my hubby to update me on anything newsworthy I've missed(he hasn't kicked the habit), you got me. I might care about my neighbors and Victoria's wedding but I care more about not looking stupid and knowing when something big happens. I want to be "the first to know" and if there is an assassination attempt on the American president I will tune in to CNN straight away... 

Interesting thought here on this blog negative news vs. positive news