No News is Good News September 4, 2010 -- I stopped watching television in the first week of June. This wasn't a conscious choice, it just kind of happened. Right now, I'm living in a rural area that has no cable broadband. My internet connection is over a satellite link and I didn't bother paying to have television (DirectTV was the only option). I can still watch a television show if I want. All of the networks seem to provide the ability to watch episodes of their prime time fare after it has already aired. My television watching the previous year had already been reduced to two shows a week (24 and Criminal Minds). One of them finished its run, so I'm really only anticipating the ending to Criminal Minds' cliffhanger from the end of last season with Tim Curry as the bad guy. Haven't seen a news broadcast in months, and I'm kind of liking it. I'm not totally uninformed, though. When I have downtime, I read various news sites to keep abreast with what's happening in the world. But what is left out of the picture are the talking heads -- I don't hear the opinions of Keith Olberman, Glenn Beck, Jon Stewart, Lou Dobbs, Bill O'Reilly, or anyone else for that matter. I think it's one thing to post your own personal views and opinions on your personal website, on your Facebook comments or in the "opinions" or editorial section of a newspaper or magazine, but trying to pass off opinions, political posturing or blatant spin as "news" is another thing altogether. The broadcast news media used to be very careful about separating the two. Now the news coverage is so clouded with opinion that it's almost impossible to discern the facts. The print media is a little better, but it's still easy to see manipulation of the truth passed off as fact. This is something that's always been with us, though. There is something about the telling of a story that almost makes it necessary for the reporter to interject their own viewpoint, if only to make you understand the perspective from which they witness an event. The truth is never "fair and balanced" and news reporting rarely is either. I've learned that the most accurate reporting is usually found where both sides of the issue blast the reporter for being biased toward the opposing side. If the Republicans are complaining that your writing is too liberal at the same time the Democrats are accusing you of being too conservative, then you're probably pretty close to the mark. But if you are conducting a public rally to rouse the public to take one side over the other, you can no longer be taken seriously as a journalist and cannot be trusted to deliver the truth. You no longer have credibility, except in the minds of the people who already agree with you in the first place. You're not informing them, you're merely trying to manipulate them. The best part of being unplugged from television -- no commercials. I have no clue what's new and improved this month, what brand of toothpaste is most recommended by dentists, which detergent I should use, what kind of phone I should own or car I should drive. Don't know about the concocted ailment of the month or what new drug I'm supposed to be asking my doctor to prescribe. Don't know who is being packaged and sold as the "next big thing" on American Idol or if that show is even around any more. I have no idea what the blockbuster movie of the summer is. Not only do I not feel like I'm missing anything, without sitting and staring vaciously at the idiot box (or even having it droning in the background), I'm getting more done, making better use of the time I have, actually accomplishing something. No one is telling me I HAVE to hurry over to catch the big savings or urging me to fill up on half-pound greaseburgers and fries. Without that endless insistence being pounded into my head, the bad choices stop seeming so attractive. I used to think that people who didn't have a television set were a little extremist, maybe even slightly off-kilter. But now that I'm one of them, I'm seeing more true American culture, enjoying life a little more, experiencing things I never had time for. I don't feel like I need the constant entertainment piped in 24 hours a day. There is a television here, and occasionally I'll watch a movie if I feel the need for outside stimulus. I'm not anti-entertainment, I just don't need it all day and all night. To paraphrase Ferris Bueller, "Life comes at us too fast sometimes. If you don't stop once in a while and take a good look around, you're going to miss it."