Bob

It does vary by region.

Where we currently are, we get PBS from NH, which is ok, we get PBS from MA, which is meh, and RI PBS, which is great.

Where we used to live, Comcast, for a while at least also gave us CT PBS, can't remember what that was like.

Up in Maine, it was really good for news and documentaries but shit on actual shows except kids ones.

Bob

They don't, because they don't care.

Those that do, find it themselves like the rest of us, via the interwebz.

Then again, it's all depressing these days anyway :/

dlake02

Blimey - I posted here genuinely trying to my stereotypical view of Americans over-turned, not reinforced

Actually, I do know a couple of gen-U-ine Americans who have a real world view of life - both have spent substantial amounts of time living abroad.

kimilseung

There is no shortage of well educated, well informed Americans. Its the median American that struggles, given the limited opportunities.

Lion in Winter

Exactly.

WEBlue

New York Times Online (or paper) & New Yorker magazine (online or paper), & BBC World News on PBS radio. That's about it for us, but it keeps us informed, & busy reading (can't read it all, actually).

I don't know what people in the rest of the country can do, b/c both the NYT & the New Yorker seem fairly NYC-based & -biased. When we lived in TX in the 90s, I had wee ones & no time for anything other than PBS radio & the occasional "60 Minutes" or "Meet the Press" on TV.

dlake02

Hmm - I wonder where they are round here then. I meet "well educated" every day of my life, but when it comes to world or even country affairs, I would say they are ill-informed compared to their EU counter-parts.

Ruth16

Ill informend, yes, that's because most people watch CNN instead of Fox .

Lion in Winter

Eh?

ian-mstm

My wife has a coworker who worships everything Republican and demonizes everything Democrat. She (the coworker) insists that most poor people are Democrats because they don't have cable TV. If they had cable TV they'd watch FOX, but because they don't, they're stuck with NBC.

Personally, I find FOX stupid, offensive, and pandering to the vast unwashed masses. At least CNN is somewhat entertaining.

Ian

Ruth16

Most poor people are democrats and can't afford cable TV, ? now there's a bit of Britsh humor

dlake02

Actually, that is an aspect that may drive us kicking and screaming out of the country a lot quicker than the currently planned for 3 years.

My wife came home last night (she is an ESL/French teacher) telling me how her boss had let-one-fly about how "awful" the "socialised health-care" system in France was, and how "stupid" the French were to elect a Socialist PM. This wasn't a discussion; this person has NEVER been to France, never even lived in Europe, etc, etc. It was a Fox News dump.

Now this is not a stupid person - she has a PhD and lives in the area - but the independent thought, asking, discussing, forming opinions based on research that are part of any doctoral study appeared to be totally missing from her when it came to politics.

My wife was stunned - this same thing has happened to me a few times since being here (mostly about religion, private education and Europe), and I've just bitten my lip and held on to my thoughts as I do not wish to offend anyone. I'm a visitor, I'm learning, and I have no right to express my views in a way that hurt or upset anyone. That doesn't mean that I don't have my views - I just don't have the right to ram them down someone else's throat.

But she was in tears when she came home. "How can they be so rude ?" was her comment. "They've never even visited the country - let alone lived there."

Now, if that person had said "Come on - let's have a coffee and a discussion about different forms of government, health-care, education, religion, etc, etc, etc" my wife would have been over-joyed. She'd have learnt something about the American way; her boss may have learnt something about our experiences.

This kind of crass behaviour does nothing to dispel the world view of Americans and I don't know WHY it is so common here. In England, I'm used to this kind of outburst from what I can only describe as the IQ Zero brigade and it can be easily dismissed as someone that really hasn't got much up-top, but here it seems to transcend education, background, social class. It really comes at you from the most unexpected quarters.

Brucky

I also do not like the majority of news channels here in the USA.

What I do like though is Anderson Cooper on CNN, and Rachel Maddow on NBC.

Both have shows airing most nights.

My cable company shows the BBC World News channel, but I do not like it much. If only they would show BBC News 24 instead.

Anyway, Fox Soccer Channel have started to air Sky News at 7pm every night, and I tend to read the News on the BBC's own website for my 'fix' of news.

Bob

There are quite a lot, they use the internet, just like we do. They are not most people though...because we're all lazy and go with the path with less resistance, so if it ain't on the box, it generally doesn't get absorbed.

Anian

When the so-called 24 hour news channels only have a few hours of actual news per day and at low-viewing times, the bad opinions of US news are justified.

I bite my tongue when I say anything about the NHS to my mother-in-law because I can see that she is eager to leap on any failings at all as being proof that Obamacare will kill everyone.