Bitcoin Forum

Okay, this may seem silly.

No cause or effect is ascertained by this poll!

Regardless...

Someone recently pointed out that people in the crypto world are likely not typical consumer "TV watchers."

Is this true or are we the same as the rest?

Any suggestion on how to handle international outside of USA?

I’ve made a great group of friends from all over the world from this forum and it’s insane to me how alike many of us are, despite our vastly different cultural Upbringings. One thing most of us seem to have in common is our dislike for mainstream media /news /government. Mostly political independents who think outside the box and never take the news at face value until careful review. It’s extremely refreshing to me. So my experience is we do not let the media take hold of us, like most of the modern world does. I believe many members here are similar in this fashion.

I went for a solid ten years really never watching any tv, but have recently changed that and sort of spot watch a few minutes here and there.

Now my main problem with the TV style media is the concepts and ideas move way too slow. Like I can read a complex paragraph in a minute, but they'll waste ten minutes with it and stay on the shallow analysis.

Knowing that mainstream media is nearly 100% Zionist owned and with the mission to herd the stupid goyim in a direction of their choosing makes it possible to extract useful information by analyzing it.  But I don't own a TV so mostly what I see from the MSM are clips from internet based information outlets.

TV news is appallingly biased. I'm from the UK, and the much-vaunted "impartial" BBC has always been aggressively right-wing. I would say newspapers are far worse than TV though, it's not just manipulation and distortion of truth, there is a lot now that is just outright lies. Everyone has an agenda, and it is obviously the ultra-rich who control the media, so they promote their own agenda. It is extremely depressing that they can so easily manipulate the electorate. We also have the internet as a news source, and I would agree to an extent that a lot of it is echo chambers where you only hear opinions that you already agree with.

Even so, being aware of all this - I would suspect I am still influenced by the media. It is just a relentless bombardment, and even if you think you are immune to "news", you still get influenced by TV advertising for example, no matter how much you try to fight it.

Very good point!

Also, it is critical to try to gain an understanding of whoever is disseminating information.  It is also critical to realize that every source almost without exception is subject to shift over time.  Often they are bought out directly and the organization changes hands.  Often key elements within an organization is incentivized to introduce a shift or slant into their content.

Currently one of my main sources of information is 'trunews'.  These guys are Christians and they make no bones about wishing people to become Christians or become better Christians as they define it.  That is fine.  It doesn't interest me much but I admire their candor.  They have professional production quality and most of their information is quite solid in evaluating their track record and cross-checking with other sources.

I've constantly switch my 'short list' of information sources.  Sometimes they have been corrupt and gave their hand away (usually on some 'key event' which was important enough to someone to risk their cover.)  Fine.  There are a handful of people who I've followed for a very long time.  Corbett comes to mind.  He's got his shortisightedness and aversion to certain realities, but the information he does put forward tends to be rock solid.  He also is creative enough to find angles I'd not thought of sometimes.

Very true. My main news source for the UK is The Guardian, which is probably as close to independent unbiased news as we would get in a newspaper. The paper is owned by a Trust, which "forms part of a unique ownership structure [...] that ensures editorial interests remain free of commercial pressures"
https://www.theguardian.com/the-scott-trust/2015/jul/26/the-scott-trust  

I also follow a lot of people who do not appear to have any commercial incentive to write the stuff they write, people like Noam Chomsky. Also (and I know some people don't like him), Michael Moore is good.

But as with everything in life, it is important to question everything, every "fact" that you hear, no matter how independent the source may seem.

Eh, in this day and age I honestly cant even watch tv from either side. Fox is too right, CNN is too left. They both have their own twist on how they present things.

The only thing I can do at this point is read the news -- mostly the WSJ. Seems a lot better then anything else. Limits the amount of bias that I can put on myself.

We may not know it but everything we see and hear are influencing us to same extent. It would be safe to assume all of us are filled by larger amount of propaganda and lesser amount of truth.
In order to know the right things, we should always keep our mind open to every new and uncomfortable ideas. Listen to everyone and verify every details yourself.
While judging things, we should always provide bias towards the voice that is less heard. By default, the people in power tends to misuse it.

Im from Europe and stopped reading MSM newspapers and stopped watching TV. Now mostly reading "alternative" news and only watch TV shows (but try to avoid the PC bullshit)

But reading all comments here it truely makes sense, if you are here (bitcointalk) you automatically defy the system and think independantly.

My 1 cent

I think this is generally true, yes. It probably applies even more to the hero/legendary people on here who have been involved in crypto since near the beginning - in those days there weren't any positive news stories that might entice people in. I would say if you have a very old account, there is a strong correlation there with independent thinking.

I became aware of Bitcoin because Paypal interfered with my ability to help fund a journalism platform which was one of the relatively few which I had respect for at the time.  That would be wikileaks.  Paypal telling me what I could and could not support with my own fuckin money pissed me off quite a lot, and I already understood what a scam the debt-based fiat money system was at that time.

The above was 2010.  Unfortunately I didn't immediately get around to compiling the code and CPU mining.  Oh well.  As for mainstream media, I distrusted it before the election of 2000, but the going's on with Bush/Gore really opened my eyes to what a corrupt mess the media was and how phony the 'two-party' charade is.  I've never paid any attention to them since except for things like the weather or earthquake footage and such.

When I do watch or read mainstream media (for the last 20 years now!) it has always been to analyze how they are spinning things in order to understand what is really going on and what the priorities of the ruling classes are.

Yes, I am exactly the same. The scary thing for me though is that I am sure that mainstream media still has an effect on my thinking. Particularly advertising, at a subconscious level. The manipulation is becoming more sophisticated and more nuanced, particularly with social media sites like Facebook and their (successful) attempts to nudge people into desired behaviour patterns.

I rarely watch TV/news nowadays and it's one of the best decisions I've had. I realized that they have been showing me a lot of negative craps for years.

I changed one item in the poll.

FROM: "No TV for me!"
TO: "No TV News for me!"

So for the results are quite surprising.

They surprise me too.  I don't think there is a big enough sample size and/or enough honesty.  Based on the content I'm sure that 90% of the forum participants spend more than a little time in front of the zio-con owned idiot box.

You should have made an addition rather than a substitution.  'Entertainment' is at least as mind-shattering as 'news' in mainstream media-land.  It would be interesting to know (or think we know) how many people avoid both.

To speak for myself, I don't watch a lot of television broadcasting stations and got rid of cable years ago. I'm more of a streamer than anything. When I do watch TV it is usually Netflix or Prime Video through the Roku Box or the Amazon Fire-stick. I find my self watch documentaries or 1-on-1 tutorials or guides on YouTube and try to keep my viewing habits to educational  programming if possible. Every now and then I watch a fw music videos. I usually watch TV in the morning just for the local news in order to find out whats happening around my neighborhood and the surrounding areas.
 

I'm only interested in Sports news since I cannot watch all the games I want at once. They seem reliable with this kind of information, but about politics and others, No! I don't want to hear from them anymore. I'm thankful for the social media creator because of them we know that the media are not a trusted source of giving information. News from the different part of the world are doctored, most of them are biased. They only broadcast what they think is right, the rest are news blackout.

i'm a typical tv news watcher as will really be affected to news that doesn't go along with the politicians i support. if a news somehow supports Trump, i might just ignore it and even express my opinion about it even when the news isn't crypto related. but will also switch to another channel because its just more fun to watch Family guy than news. news are often lies orchestrated to make those people look good or look bad when motivations are there.

Let’s take the ongoing protests in Hong Kong as an example. Visit the social media/website of any major news in your area and you get the impression that the Hong Kong Protest, US-CHINA Trade wars and the ISIS fightings are the biggest stories in the world right now. But Are They?
An Analysis shows that the US is the focal point for headlines over the decades. With countries like China, Iraq, North Korea, Hong Kong(just recently) and Afghanistan appearing in US-related international News and articles. Conflict zones in Nigeria, DRC Congo, Sub Saharan Africa and South America receive little or no attention in the media.

Here’s a map of the world if it was as painted looking at the number of times an influential media, The British Guardian Newspaper mentioned each region.  (http://www.viewsoftheworld.net/?p=3760)


It’s important you rethink, next time you read the news.

You have a point I did not think of. Steven Colbert etc is definitely an opinionator/propagandist on "news." And similar people/shows.

same thing that is happening here in the Philippines. doesn't attract attention from international media but when our president started the drug war, he got 85% approval rating from the filipinos. but on the outside, the report is something else and our president are portrayed differently in the international media like methheads.
there are African countries with tons of happening that deserves attention but they centered on Hongkong news that we already knew its just a tiny bit of problem that was already resolved but the media wants it to paint big like Xi Jinping wanna kill em all.

I usually don't watch TV or I try to avoid watching news on it, at least on a specific channel.
I try to see multiple channels as they broadcast news from different perspectives. In my opinion, if you want it or not, you are kind of manipulated by the Media. They have their way to persuade you and manipulate your critical mind.

media affect me, I once attended training, that training taught that a trader must be sensitive to news
because the price change of any investment is greatly influenced by political conditions in some of the most influential countries in the world
so, a trader must be really sensitive to news.

i am computer man , i no need TV or cable TV,
i am watching everything from My Pc and to be honest, 60:40 for me
mostly affect me , but it depend from where the source.
about manipulation , LOL , it depend how you think a thing.

I try to limit my time in front of the television to as close to zero. Two-three times a week maybe I watch a music show or a movie to chill out and relax, but besides that I'm not a big fan of TV. I consider it a waste of time that could be spent much more effective elsewhere like reading a book or taking a walk, at the gym, etc. What's the point in watching the news while you can scroll the facebook newsfeed in a minute or two and filter out the news that interest you?!

Good point. All psychopaths in Westworld are white males.

I added "Entertain me, you TV! No news no no no no"

But this is not simple, since the new trend is "TV series" over internet, such as Netflix, Hulu and such. But let's see where it leads.

For me I enjoyed watching TV because at least I am aware what happen on the world or our nation. It has a good by watching TV from information and can cause some people a lot of ideas.

Regardless of how people respond in the poll, the answer to the question in the thread title 'Does MEDIA affect you?' is, I think, yes.
It's always yes. Unless you live as a hermit on a mountainside somewhere.

If you live in modern society, you are bombarded with advertising for a start, not news as such, but it's media, and it influences opinions. Even if you think it doesn't, it still does to an extent. I try to fight it as much as I can, but I think I am still influenced.

As for news, media now includes social media as well as TV, and it includes anything you read on the internet. You can't escape that, either. Everyone has an agenda.

It is incumbent on all of us, particularly if we are voters in (nominally) democratic countries, to be as well informed as possible. DYOR is a crypto mantra, and it applies to real life just as much.

Question everything! Make sure that your thoughts and opinions are really yours!

Here in my country most of the news on TV are about the investment scheme that is related to cryptocurrency so I stop watching TV ;D I'm very affected on any media news about crypto so what I did is pick only what I want to see and hear because it boost my beliefs about cryptocurrency as a long-term holder.

I'm a person that is depending on both TV plus Social Media. But, I'm about 70% Social media and 30% TV. And yes, social media affects me. But, I'm aware that there are a lot of fake news in here that's why you need to exert some effort knowing the news.

Even if you don't watch TV, the programming still gets directed to you passively via 3rd parties who do. That is the wonder of propaganda, it spreads like a disease.

Exactly, it is impossible to escape it. We have to do the best that we can, which is to question everything. Not just the stuff you disagree with, but the stuff you do agree with as well - you have to make sure you believe it for what it is, not because some outside third party has influenced you.

Of course crypto people are against MSM media like TV or CNN (Clinton News Network)

The whole idea of bitcoin is not to be governed by one main entity or organization.

I believe in free thinking, and you can only achieve this by creating your own opinion rather than being fed with bullshit or fake news.

One great thing about internet is that you can choose actively what, when and how much you want to read, instead of passive TV WATCHIING where you are actually fed with bullshit and your brain is taking in whatever the show on TV says.

I live in Asia. Pretty much gave up on TV and just watch a bit of Youtube. This meant I usually have no idea what's in the news. Even to the point that I don't know if there's a cyclone coming or some part of the country got hit by earthquake.

Only time I get to catch some TV is if I take my dinner early since the TV at home is on around that time.


Even if it don't affect you subconsciously, it may affect people you know and even if not, it still likely have an effect on the majority of the population. Which means you are at their whims. Their actions will affect you if they decide to riot, or coup, or buy some hype stocks, or decide your opinion is hate speech, etc.

Well once you've realized that the media can and is being used and manipulated by powerful people to pound information they want in you, you tend to not take it seriously anymore.  I prefer looking for documents online and reading rather than have someone in a suit tell me what's going on. Of course, it's quite a good source of entertainment seeing how other people enjoy ruining themselves trying to look smart lol.

+1 to that.

Though I must say cutting TV out of my life and going straight to reading articles makes life a lot better. Even if you know you know there is the bias of the writer (which there always is a bias of everyone, even if it is slight) its much better then hearing people scream from your TV about how Trump is the best or the worst (depending on CNN/Fox)

Media affects everyone. Like it or not.

Yes, it does. I think social media is probably even worse than TV. The echo chamber effect is immense. Add to this targetted advertising of pages/sites you 'might like' based on what you have already viewed... and it exacerbates the problem. We risk becoming isolated on islands of discussion, forever talking only with those who already agree with us.

It's why I like this section of the forum. You come across a wide range of views, some of which you may think are absolutely f---ing insane... but it forces you to provide evidence to back up your own position, and forces you to determine the veracity of that evidence.

The fact that I am here in this forum means that I am affected by media.

It’s classified, we are all affected by media in different forms depending on what you are interested in.

Media is not just what we see in TV. Media has its different platforms and it varies on our needs and interests.

- I rarely watch on TV and the thing I hate about it is the NEWS mostly if it’s politics related.

I worked in the industry from about 2000 and saw it evolve.  Some things in terms of privacy which were shocking back then are so normalized now that a person is insane for not embracing them.  Anyway, I could 'feel' that social media was subject to abuse.  I did my teething back in the usenet days which was the social media of it's time for sure.  Modern day incantations are, I believe, the result of shrewd people recognizing the basically uncontrolled level of energy of the earlier forms and figuring out how to monetize it (including shepherding 'herds' of people and steering them in the direction of a client's choosing.)

I sort of lost interest in Bitcoin as the years dragged on, but calculated that Thermos probably had not monetized his users in the same pernicious and cynical way that the Zuckerberg types had.  So I use this as my modern day outfit and stay off the rest.  Jewtube and almost every other platform is now heavily censoring so they are no fun anyway.

Also it is kind of good to know the character of those who were interested enough in Bitcoin to have set up an account here.  Disappointing sometimes as wall :)

Media goes beyond TV really and quite a number of people on the forum within certain age range would admit that they watch less of TV including me but that does not take out the fact that media influences us. There is the social media which quite a number of us cannot do without, there is also the outdoor media that stares at you when anytime you step out, then the paper media you get to read in magazines probably in bank and when you need to while away time. All of these put together play significant role in the decision we make. In crypto, a news site release a statement and the consuming audience used that as a source to create a thread on the forum which then influence someone to either buy or sell his holdings. Media is powerful and would continue to be unless one wants to live in isolation.

Agree completely. We're going to need a bigger poll.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I91DJZKRxs

Eugeniusz Taraciński. 7 foot 5 plus change, I believe.
You're welcome.

https://www.worldatlas.com/r/w728-h425-c728x425/upload/1b/8b/19/shutterstock-433354651.jpg

I don't watch TV. Stopped watching when I was a typical penniless student and it broke on me. I faced a dilemma, buy a new one or spend the money on beer and girls.
Looking back I made the right decision. It's been over 8 years and I still don't have a TV but i have good memories instead. My missus wants to watch Netflix so I might be getting one this winter whether I like it or not.


These things only work in spoken language. ;)

I stopped watching TV news when I started seeing stories about events I’d read about days before on Twitter.

i watch TV news and affected as i'm like a typical TV watcher. when the the news involves your country being the first to spread the virus, i feel sad about that part. we're people who does have the emotions too. no matter how bad people may look at the our country is, its my country and i love it. i took an amount of soil in a tiny jar to bring it with me whenever i go.  media will always misrepresent something/someone different than the reality.

The media has become powerful all over the world MEDIA has become a major platform for organizing protest movements in many countries around the world. The media influences us and we can easily know all the news of the world from home. Media styles change in different ways MEDIA allows you to connect with more people in a very short time MEDIA can make you weaker because of the other person's behavior, attitude, and beliefs. Social media lets you compare yourself to others on your social network.

I find it very hard to avoid the news because its every where. When being online I see pop ups so many times about some useless news and when I am bored I click on them too many times. I know it's bad because once you click on those links you will always get more recommendations. For me it's impossible to live without media.

Even if you believe that youa re not affected by the media you possibly are.
If you are reading the news you cannot be so out of it and do not believe what they are talking about.
The saddest part is that they affect your psychology negatively.

Social media is the main media for me. In most cases comment to the news may have affect on me and make me change my mind.

Social media makes people rabid. There's so much anger in people that fuels tribalism and it isn't healthy. How can you have a conversation with someone that thinks your a Nazi, racist, xenophobe...so on so forth.

Does anyone remember how the internet was 10 years ago? When people were not being offended by everything? Internet users in 2020 are getting triggered by everything. It almost impossible to have a decent conversation on social media about any topic. People are getting either mad and start trolling or are angry and offended. I wish everyone was more relaxed on the internet.

Social media affects everyone its false news often annoys people you have rightly said that before the Internet was not in vogue, people used to be like that but nowadays social media is one of the means of communication for people. Without the Internet the world would be almost paralyzed. Business work office court work everything will come to a standstill. Many people think that social media is the only means of entertainment so it is very important in everyone's life.

Showing something to us repeatedly is the strategy used by ever kind of media which clearly influence our mind for sure.On the other side social media also make us addicted to it by showing the things which we like to see because they know what we want and also censor the things from our mind for various reasons.

In those years, the internet is not too popular than now, and not all countries have a better internet connection. People using the traditional way to communicate, such as using telephones, visiting their homes, etc. But after social media comes out, many people try the services, and they can meet their old friends who lived far from them.

Social media can help us if we can use it properly, but social media can make us from getting bad things if we can not use it with the right. If one thing is released on social media, many people will know it, becoming popular.

I know right. Seems like everybody is always against each other. Simple post and someone would be offended even though that's not the intention of the post.

Anyway, to answer the question does media affects my opinion, well sometimes when I'm in doubt. But when I think I'm on the right side, I don't know if it makes much of a difference. After all, I'm just an ordinary person. And usually, the voice of our likes doesn't get heard that much.

But how do you know you are on the right side? Who can justify the thing because it changes to everyone.Voice of a normal human will get attention as well with the help of social media but it is not going to happen over night.It will take years to build our own reputation as social activist or something like that.

The media has got nothing to do with me as far as crypto ecology is concerned. If it were to be a relativism with the circular world around me, then I would say yes.
I don't see cryptocurrency to make headline news very often and then, most journalist at the media houses don't really know much of cryptos hence, their publications are often filled with fabricated stories to make the article seem attractive and catchy to the eyes and are often off context too. So,
I refuse to download most of the crypto related articles published by the media due to it's manipulated facts.