Reading or Watching the News... Which is Better?

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
This subject is one I've been juggling around for a while, and I'm wondering if I'm one of the last people on earth who would rather read a news article rather than watch it. The reason, is that over the past year, I've noticed an obvious insurgence of video being posted in lieu of an actual news article, and I have to admit... the entire idea doesn't enthrall me.

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You can read the rest of our news post here and discuss it here.
 

2Tired2Tango

Tech Monkey
I'm definately a reader. I like to be able to go back over and re-read sections of a story (book, article, publication) to make certain I've understood it fully. Unlike many, I don't "skim", every word is read and considered in my attempt to understand.

On the other hand, news video is a tremendous source of bloopers, which I really enjoy watching. :D
 

b1lk1

Tech Monkey
I prefer to read it, hands down. Most news sources are biased enough, but video news also goes for sensationalism and that further deters from the truth/credibility of a story. Seeing how you show CNN, they are quite possibly the worst offenders. Pick any major news story over the last few years. CNN will beat it to death all day long and just relentlessly break it down till they just make it impossible to even watch it any more and feel there is any news value.

Besides, reading is just better for the brain.
 

Brett Thomas

Senior Editor
<rant>
I DESPISE video news. I have gone to great lengths to weed out video news as much as possible. It's not that the concept is bad, I think in some cases it could be nice. But if I wanted to watch the news instead of read it, I'd turn on my TV. At the very least, I think it should be in two formats - I really hate when I see a story I want, click on it, and find it to be video.

It's worse because I like to catch up on this stuff at work often, where video is not really permitted. Streaming video can be insecure and usually IS obnoxious for other people in the office to listen to.

So, I say GIVE ME PRINT! *YAAAAAH!*

</rant over>
sorry for the rant, this is REALLY a bit of a hot topic for me, ever since I couldn't manage to click on CNN without ending up watching a damn video instead of reading the story i was interested in.
 

krestic

Obliviot
When reading you remember much much more information than when you watch. It's a fact. Like after reading a novel, and watching a movie about it- biiiig difference. That is why you get clever when you read books, and get stupid when you watch tv.
 

2Tired2Tango

Tech Monkey
When reading you remember much much more information than when you watch. It's a fact. Like after reading a novel, and watching a movie about it- biiiig difference. That is why you get clever when you read books, and get stupid when you watch tv.

There is that... and often the video version of the news actually presents less information than the text version.
 

Doomsday

Tech Junkie
reading in the morning and watching/listening at night.... i mostly watch talk show programs which discuss our pathetic local politicians and current situation in the country...
 

Kougar

Techgage Staff
Staff member
Reading, definitely for a few reasons...

The largest one by far, is that listening to the talking heads they know how to choose synonyms carefully to make the story sound more shocking, unbelievable, atrocious, appalling, heinous, or IMPLY any other extreme emotion. Repeatedly I could listen to a broadcast, then reread the events in print, and come up with two completely different chain of events or line of facts that completely changes the story. If it's on TV, their goal is to sensationalize and sell it for ratings.

When it comes to print accuracy becomes more important, because they can't take their words back and their name is attached to it (although this isn't always true either, with news sites picking up content and not verifying it first before republishing... but that's another issue enitrely and usually doesn't have someone's name attached to it).

I also prefer print because I can reread sections, important data can be found in a table or graph, and you can glean the important highlights within seconds, as opposed to watching where they withhold important details until the end or near end of the report.
 

madstork91

The One, The Only...
Entertainment = Video
Information + Bias = Written
Bias + Information = Internet

Wikipedia, 2 months after the fact = Speculation + Information
Wiki, 1 year later = Probably the most accurate.
 
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