Welcome To The New Year. 1984

An Interesting Trend.

The right-wing MAGA avoids the mainstream media and listens to FOX and other right-wing media podcasts. It was the liberals who listen to the mainstream media outlets like ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS.

Public takes ‘time off’ from politics

Survey finds many tune out TV news after Nov. election

AP News

By David Bauder and Linley Sanders Associated Press

January 1, 2025

 As a Democrat who immersed himself in political news during the presidential campaign, Ziad Aunallah has much in common with many Americans since the election.

He’s tuned out.

“People are mentally exhausted,” said Aunallah, 45, of San Diego. “Everyone knows what is coming and we are just taking some time off.”

Television ratings — and now a poll — illustrate the phenomenon. About two-thirds of American adults say they have recently felt the need to limit media consumption about politics and government because of overload, according to a survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Smaller percentages of Americans are limiting their intake of news about overseas conflicts, the economy or climate change, the poll says. Politics stand out.

Election news on CNN and MSNBC was taking up too much of Sam Gude’s time before the election, said the 47-year-old electrician from Lincoln, Nebraska. “The last thing I want to watch right now is the interregnum,” said Gude, a Democrat and no fan of President-elect Donald Trump.

The poll found that about 7 in 10 Democrats say they are stepping back from political news. The percentage isn’t as high for Republicans, who have reason to celebrate Trump’s victory. Still, about 6 in 10 Republicans say they’ve felt the need to take some time off too, and the share for independents is similar.

The differences are far starker for the TV networks that have been consumed by political news.

But on the other side of the divide, it is a different story.

At Fox News Channel, a favorite news network for Trump fans, the post-election average of 2.68 million viewers is up 13%, Nielsen said. Since the election, 72% of the people watching one of those three cable networks in the evening were watching Fox News, compared to 53% prior to Election Day.

A post-election slump for fans of the losing candidate is not a new trend for networks that have become heavily identified for a partisan audience. MSNBC had similar issues after Trump was elected in 2016. Same for Fox in 2020, although that was complicated by anger: Many of its viewers were outraged then by the network’s crucial election night call of Arizona for the Democratic presidential candidate, Joe Biden, and sought alternatives.

MSNBC had its own anger issues after several “Morning Joe” viewers became upset that hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski visited Trump shortly after his victory last month. Yet while the show’s ratings are down 35% since Election Day, that’s a smaller drop than the network’s prime-time ratings.

"And that's the way it is, January 1st, 2025”

Walter Cronkite ended his news show night with that tag line, but things were different back then. Networks ran the news as a cost center… as a service of the public. Now it is a profit center… they have to pay their own way. And it has drastically change the news programs and now everything is about ratings!

They go for the blood and guts, they go for what will sell the most ads, they go for what will improve their ratings.

When the marriage equality was being heard around the country who did the media interview?  The affirming churches who would have agreed with the saying it was a good thing for all? Or did they bring the fire and brimstone churches?

As the song “Dirty Laundry” says,

We can do "The Innuendo", we can dance and sing

When it's said and done, we haven't told you a thing

We all know that crap is king

Give us dirty laundry!

That is what the news is at night now what can sell the most ads.

The poll indicates that Americans want less talk about politics from public figures in general. After an election season where endorsements from celebrities like Taylor Swift made headlines, the survey found that Americans are more likely to disapprove than approve of celebrities, large companies and professional athletes speaking out about politics.

Politics makes my head hurt! It makes me think!

“It would be nice if you could get both sides, and more research,” she said.

Watch PBS Newshour! You don't get it in a half hour news show.

“It’s kind of their own fault that I’m not watching,” he said. “I felt they spent all this time talking about the election. They made it so much of their focus that when the main event ends, why would people want to keep watching?”

They want to watch the “dirty laundry” politics make there head hurt!

Do you remember when ABC, CBS, and NBC used to do "Whitepapers" on news topic... but it cost money, the only shows that comes close is 60 Minutes and PBS has Frontline. 60 Minutes has its roots in 1968!  

They are bring everything down to the lowest common denominator.

That is why they voted for Trump to fix the economy and they completely ignore the fact that the reason we are where we are now with the economy, it started with Reagan cutting taxes for the rich, and the millionaire became billionaires. Then Trump cut the taxes on the billionaires and they because the mega billionaires! And now Trump is going to balance the budget on the very back of the people who voted for him and he is leading us down the road to an oligarchy and fascism.

But people now want everything condensed down to 30 seconds... other wise it is boring!

My new motto: "Ne permittas bastardus te deprimere"

“Don’t let the bastards get you down!”