Staying Informed

It's always good to stay informed about the happenings around us, and tuning in to the news is one of the ways to achieve this. I wouldn't say that I am so consistent in listening to news on TV or reading them in the newspaper, but to a large extent, I have improved, and that's as a result of my husband's influence. He will always tell me to get updated and stay aware of what's going on in my country, whether the broadcasters are dishing out all the info we need to know or they are withholding any. This made me always watch news at 10. This is where lots of information about the nation is being discussed, from sports to the economy, politics, health, and so on.

I understand that things have changed now. When I was growing up, we had this local radio where Dad used to force my siblings and me to listen to news. I remember vividly back then that for one to get first-hand information, original information without adulteration, just tune in to your radio. In fact, my relative once secured a government job through listening to local news. I believed all the information then, both the good ones and the bad ones capable of scaring the hell out of me. But I must be sincere that the news I consume this day is either half baked or adulterated, but will it stop me from listening to them? No, because in every rumor, there's still an atom of truth. I will rather choose to get half-baked info than stay outdated about the happenings in our world.

Having said that, when it comes to news in my country, Nigeria, and even around the world nowadays, I don't believe that all the information being passed on to us during the broadcasting of news is the full details of what we need to know. Things are being kept away from us for sure, and not only that, most of the information released to us is all manufactured lies. Sometimes, it's hard to process and believe the stories I hear on the news these days, and I wonder how all sectors are just getting so corrupt each day. They may argue that they hurd sensitive information from the masses for our own good, but what about the cooked lies here and there? Why all the half-truths kind of news, which are quite annoying.

Some pages on social media are even the worst sources of news today. These sets of people're focused on generating traffic rather than sharing the right information; sadly, it's all about money and not minding the detriment of such information in the lives of the people. Even some news broadcasters who visit the scene to get first-hand information still don't release all the truth surrounding a particular topic, maybe for the fear of losing their job, but it's what it is.

Getting the right facts Nowadays, it looks like a chore because fake news has filled up our news media. It becomes difficult to tell what's true from the lies, but then listening to multiple news stories from different sources and hearing different people's opinions looks like a fair idea to help us get the right facts, and that's what I do in order to be informed with relevant information.

This post is in response to the #hivelearners community contest on the topic titled, News On The Hour

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