It’s been two weeks of bad news that just doesn’t stop. Charlie Kirk was assassinated, setting off a maelstrom of vitriol and hate across the media landscape. And Jimmy Kimmel was “indefinitely” taken off the air after a threat by the FCC in what some argue was an attack on free speech.
The nastiness is enough for me to grab the remote, turn it off, and cocoon into a peaceful and chaos-free life with my friends and family, in a home we’ve made for ourselves that is comfy and secure.
I wake up in the morning and, as I always do, reach for my iPhone and hit all of the apps. I read The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times, X, Facebook, and Instagram, just to name a few. I flip from Fox News to CNN and MSNBC to catch up on what I missed from the night before. And then I tackle my inbox, which overflows with more bad news. I take notes for my column. And then I sit back, depressed and frustrated with the state of our discourse and slanted news coverage.
And apparently I’m not alone.
There’s a growing feeling of fatigue. Younger generations are statistically less likely to engage with mainstream media or watch live TV. And many local and national anchors have acknowledged how heavy and depressing the news feels.
In May, Jessica Tarlov, a prominent liberal star on Fox News, apologized to the “entire world” for what cable news has become. “TV funnels what’s selling on social media, I think, more than the reverse. That makes me rage.” She called for meaningful reporting, acknowledging her anger against sensational news practices.
Other anchors have called out the emotional toll, reacting with exasperation at the nonstop negativity. It’s not just prominent people with a platform, but many in my social circles feel the exact same way, and tell me they’re pulling the plug on the news “to keep their sanity.”
There was wall-to-wall coverage on Sunday for Charlie Kirk’s memorial service, with President Trump, JD Vance, and others praising him as a martyr. But some viewers were put off by Trump saying he hates his opponent – and that kind of rhetoric is what many former news addicts are trying to avoid. At the same time, there are liberals who are so depraved that they are celebrating Kirk’s death.
Now that Jimmy Kimmel has been reinstated after a week’s suspension, the coverage was wall-to-wall on CNN and MSNBC. But anger is still palpable over what many saw as Disney and ABC bowing to the administration.
The American Psychological Association says: “Media overload is hurting our mental health…psychologists are seeing an increase in news-related stress.” And that was from 2022. Imagine the damage now. This saturation causes “headline anxiety” and “headline stress disorder.” The solutions are practicing “dietary media restriction” and “rightsizing” the news in their personal life.
According to a report by the Reuters Institute just last year, 39% of people worldwide said they sometimes or often avoid the news, compared with 29% in 2017.
I find myself turning to stories of hope to break the pattern. In the Optimist column for the Washington Post, I read about an Oregon dog who befriended a crow. The crow fell from a tree, and his owners made a makeshift nest. Now they are best buddies, “running around together” and” taking naps” with each other.
The dog’s owner said, “There’s an important lesson there, you know, about everybody coexisting and getting along, even if you are completely different from someone.” How fitting.
Then there was the D.C. man who saw a burning building, stopped his car and ran in to help. He found a husband calling out for someone to help his wife, who was bedridden. The bystander carried her out to safety before the fire trucks even arrived.
And probably my favorite upbeat story was of a man in a Batman onesie who woke up from his home security camera, and captured a burglar who was rummaging through his truck and a neighbor’s car. He held the thief in his garage until the police came. The picture with Batman and the cops made me laugh out loud. (What grown man wears those pajamas to bed?)
But, dialing back from hard news isn’t a license to be uniformed. And it’s especially difficult for a journalist who writes a TV column. But the pros say to take breaks when you can and limit your exposure to a set amount of time.
Guidance is always helpful, but extricating ourselves from the flood of awful news is not easy. Now we have to do it.
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Free speech allows Kimmel and anyone to say what they want however it doesn’t remove your accountability.
The horde of people calling for Kimmel’s removal had absolutely no problem with their president turning Kirk’s eulogy into a meandering campaign speech. That’s more offensive than anything Kimmel said.
For politicians, it’s the voters, and for Kimmel, it’s his network bosses. Do you mean anyone else?
Well, I think it’s obvious that wouldn’t Jimmy Kimmel had to say was directed to a certain audience, I find it fascinating that those who were against what he said we’re doing it in the name of a person who they all claim was a huge advocate a free speech in public discussion. But rather than request, any discussion, it was off with his head. And yet it’s OK for their president to point fingers, blame people, and call them names.