Americans turning to Web for news and opinion

SJ Mercury News ^ | 3/2/03 | Mary Anne Ostrom

[NormsRevenge]

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Americans are turning to the Internet in record numbers for news and opinion, underscoring in new ways the Web's powerful, global reach as the U.S prepares for war.

By the millions, they are going online to get up-to-the minute news, read reports in the foreign and alternative press, and check out so-called "warblogs," electronic diaries pushing myriad views on the conflict with Iraq.

[friendly]

Bad, bad, bad news for the democrats and their operatives in the media. The truth and facts are devastating to this rabble. I hope the profit margins of ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and the other liars drop like stones.

[backhoe]

I honestly believe that the web, combined with talk radio and perhaps the blogs, will be the death of the old media. Or at least its severe attennuation as a source of information for the public.

I have seen it happen locally over the last year- people calling the local talk shows have changed from quoting newspaper and TV stories to information from the web or other radio shows.

[mabelkitty]

And look for the next Dem President and Congress to monitor and censor the web for the "good of the children."

[friendly]

Yup. Beware the First Amendment enemies.

[Megalomaniac]

The only thing I have in my home is a phone and the internet.

Cable & Dish are 99.9% junk

[friendly]

Awesome, my situation exactly. I cancelled cable but kept the broadband internet, Your favorite sites? (besides FR)

[NoControllingLegalAuthority]

The only thing I have in my home is a phone and the internet.

We went ahead with indoor plumbing and a few pieces of furniture. (Sorry. Couldn't resist.)

[Megalomaniac]

LOL!!

Touche....

I did leave the door wide open for that one..Well deserved on my part I might add. ;-\

[Megalomaniac]

Favorite sites you ask?

FR, FR, FR, FR, FR, FR, FR, FR, FR, FR, and oh yeah FR. :-)

I also get into digital art sites like Deviantart etc.

[Tacis]

This isn't right. How can the ultra-left wing censor what we read and see if we don't get all or information directly from them?

They really are in a tough place. The old time TV media types are personalities, far more concerned with their own personal celebrity than anything else. If you have the stomach for it, watch ABCCBSNBC national news with a stopwatch and a pencil and paper. Mark the start time and end time and subject of each "story" the talking head raises.

Afterward, calculate the actual news braodcast time (should be about 22 minutes; the local news is less with about 5 minutes going to the local weather twinkee) and check the stories for newsworthiness, that is, would it make any difference what say this week this story was broadcast. In short, the old time news media does not deal with much news. No wonder we've found new sources.

[Freedom4US]

LOL... that's good.. very funny.

The news organizations really shoulda seen all this coming, but they didn't. As a conservative, I got tired of having my values ridiculed by hollywood, academia, and of course the media. So naturally I gravitated to people who are like minded. At least I realize now I'm not paranoid, heh.

[proudofthesouth]

I also get my weather forecast off the web because our local weathermen (with the exception of one who is on a local conservative talk radio station) are complete idiots!

[Megalomaniac]

Get AWS WeatherBug..Works like a charm for me.

[mc5cents]

Cable & Dish are 99.9% junk

Hmmmmm. 99.9? Don't think that is accurate. I would say 95% is closer to truth, but that 5% is very valuable. It is naive to throw it away as "junk". All information has some value.

[Cicero]

Notice that the only sites they actually give URLs for are leftist. They don't want to tip any more of their readers where to look for real news.

I originally found FreeRepublic (then called Whitewater) via Drudge, and I found Drudge (a month or so before the Monica outbreak) through an incautious article in the New York Times Magazine that was meant to demonize the websites that were pushing the Vincent foster story as part of a Vast Right Wing Conspiracy of kooks and nuts. The Times thought they could use their "control" to tidy it all up and make it go away, but I suspect I wasn't the only reader to follow up on the names they mentioned in the article with some web searches.

[NoControllingLegalAuthority]

Actually, I have a TV but only use it for movies. I have a Bose home theater system and I love watching DVD's. Sometimes I get a glimpse of some of the network programs and cannot believe the trash being shown. I have cable for the Internet. Comcast offered to reduce my Internet monthly fee by combining it with basic cable TV. I took 'em up on it but have never had the TV part hooked up.
Don't miss it.

[gcruse]

Get AWS WeatherBug..Works like a charm for me.

I like it so much I paid for the Pro version just out of gratitude.  The free version
has a better looking interface, but I want them to stay in business.