Introduction
Going news free
I've resolved to go without “the news” in 2026. I decided a while back. It feels like a logical, though perhaps extreme, next step in a slow process of my own disengagement with news. I've become increasingly aware that “the news” in its various guises is having a negative impact on me so I want to give living ‘news free' a try.
Consuming “the news” never used to have such a negative impact on me. I'd pride myself on having a reasonable sense of local, national and international events. I'd read newspapers, local and national, broadsheet and tabloids. I'd listen to and watch broadcast news and stay abreast of current affairs watching documentaries, reading articles in magazines and so on. Back then, I was informed enough to feel part of society and participate in it. But these days I mainly just feel exhausted and fed up with what's being presented.
So what went wrong? I guess I'm writing this journal in part to figure that out. I could have just given up “the news” and that's that, but instead I'm taking notes. On the one hand, these notes should be a simple record of when and how I catch the news inadvertently, or when I lapse or fail. On the other, they will hopefully help me catch some thoughts and reflections about why I've fallen out with “the news” and what if anything might fix this. What would a healthier news be like for me - other than a lot less of what we are being served now? Finally, I hope to reflect on how I feel as a result of my news free decision: hopefully less exhausted, less easy to anger, although possibly cut off and ignorant?
I don't think I'm the only one increasingly distancing myself from “the news”. I've a hunch news avoidance is on the rise and believe that this is a bad thing. Are we “news avoiders” collectively sticking our heads in the sand because we really don't want to know - avoiding bad news in a world seemingly going more rotten by the day? This might be part of it, but I don't think it's the whole story. The nature of the news has changed and if more and more people are avoiding it, it's not going to end well. Ignorance may be bliss occasionally, but widespread ignorance seems a recipe for disaster although it's debatable if today's news media is countering ignorance or helping feed it?
The rules and the run up: making it up as I go along
In order to hold myself to this resolution I've told people about it in advance. However ill-formed the idea is, saying it out loud seems to be a small way of making it real. It's now no longer just an idea in my head but a public statement of intent.
Unfortunately, what “the news” is that I am hoping to avoid is not as clear as it may seem. One part of the challenge is easier to identify: avoiding mainstream news programming - news bulletins on television and radio, and avoiding newspapers. It then gets harder. I'm also hoping to avoid ‘newsy’programming too, the current affairs political discussion-type shows: newsnight, breakfast programming etc. It won't be hard to avoid BBC Question Time as nothing would make me switch over or turn off faster than the chair Fiona Bruce's voice refereeing another tired set up ‘debate’.
I fear the online dimension of the news is harder to define but with significant and growing importance. It's no doubt a key part of the problem. Here I've needed to prepare a little and try to set some ground rules.
Part of the inescapable nature of modern news is how it's almost being force fed to us via online channels though different devices: smartphone, tablet, PCs and a growing ecosystem of connected devices (even the washing machine has AI these days though thankfully no news bulletins on it yet.). Here my aim is to contain the news pushing algorithms as far as possible through avoiding or reducing exposure to social media and youtube and choosing settings where offered to avoid unwelcome news feeds wherever they arise.
Clicking on news tabs in online search results is clearly a no no. On the social media side, I'll be avoiding, but not uninstalling, Bluesky. I took up Bluesky as a substitute for Twitter/X which I stopped using after it became clear it was being used by its obscene wealth hoarding ‘owner’ to distort reality and promote hate. Meta's Facebook and Instagram also remain, though not because I don't have doubts about their owner’s morals and complicity in similar activity. I'd give up Facebook if I could, but I manage a page for a voluntary organisation so need an account to remain the page admin. I’m keeping instagram as a way to stay in the loop with various bands, hearing directly from musicians, record labels and venues. The fact Instagram has been merged into Meta’s digital empire is a sad fact of life. The fact social media experiences generally have become similar, with endless scrolls and ubiquitous video feeds is also depressing.
To prepare, I've moved the social media apps I haven't uninstalled to the periphery. I've said goodbye to Tiktok and Threads already. I've also added app time limits to ensure any interaction is more intentional - lost hours doomscrolling should now be contained to minutes. Beyond that I've turned off Youtube suggestions and redirected away from the Chrome home page.
I'm not avoiding discussion of the news. It's my challenge no one else's. There's no news blackout in my family or amongst friends or anyone I might encounter. Through conversation with others I expect to get some indirect news. It will be interesting to see what crops up.
Note to readers
When I started keeping this diary it was for my own personal reflection rememberance and learning. Whilst keeping it I decided to start sharing it in the hope the experiment might be interesting and resonate with others too. For the avoidance of doubt, the following entries are largely my thoughts reflection and opinions and are not news reporting. The events I have referred to may not be accurate, they are captured by a fallible human actively trying to avoid the news. I have captured how events came across to me only. By actively avoiding the news I have obviously not fact checked them or cross referenced them. If you want to read a summary of actual news events try and find a reliable news source. Good luck with that! If you want to hear what gets through to someone actively trying to have a break from the news you are in the right place.
January
Day 1
It doesn't start well. An intentional search for a purchase links me to a relevant result. Unfortunately it's to a post on social media. The Instagram app, previously moved well out of the way, multiple swipes to the right from my phone's home screen, fires up instantly from the direct link. Before I know it I'm back in the Meta's world and there's a notification alert saying someone has ‘liked’ my last post. ‘Likes’ deliver dopamine, the crack cocaine of attention stealing social media realm. Ironically in this case it's a ‘like” on the post signalling my intent to give up the news and, as part of this, avoid social media. I’ve suckered myself. Before I know it I am instinctively scrolling, not even conscious of it. I ‘wake up’ to this state having already consumed a crime headline
Day 2
Not even thinking, I switch on the TV. Unfortunately it's been left on BBC1 and I'm straight into the breakfast time programme. I become conscious of my unintentional arrival half-way through a news story about trying to stop online sales of fake drugs for pets. I say it's about that, but I'm not 100% sure. As soon as I realise where I’ve landed, I don't hang around long enough to find out. Even pets aren't safe online today!
I’m reminded again later that the ubiquitous exposure to algorithm curated stories targeting me, or the data profile package built up of me, is going to be harder to avoid than I imagined. Whilst I’ve made the Chrome app point to a different home page to avoid its unwelcome news feed, when I return to undertake a search there's uninvited news items lurking below the search bar. I'm reading about a woman being charged with theft locally. The settings aren't as obvious as they could be for wannabe news avoiders.
Still in the Christmas break and suffering from rich food, late nights and poor sleep, I'm having a TV day. Serendipitously but without intent I picked a film called Nightcrawler. It's a thriller. Jake Gyllenhaal stars as a “driven but morally bankrupt” character who following a chance encounter at a car crash sets up as a freelance news stringer in LA. We are introduced to the cut throat world where freelancers compete to be first on the scene to grab sensational footage of crimes and car crashes. It highlights a thirst for shocking material and the prioritisation of material that feeds a narrative of fear in affluent neighbourhoods ignoring other places entirely. Without spoilers, we are unambiguously being led to question where the line is drawn and who draws it. Food for thought for my current ramblings: the attraction of extreme content, the selection of news to spread fear amongst certain groups at the expense of reporting events common to others all together.
I'm already beginning to feel ‘no news' is a fantasy. I nip in to buy some dog food at the supermarket and my eye catches a newspaper headline ‘horror on the dance floor’ or something similar - many life's lost. I have to remind myself the experiment is avoiding the news as an intention. I have only partial control on that front. Some of the news is finding me regardless! Rest in peace.
Day 3
Better news evasion today. Today it's match day and a friend is visiting. The conversation in the pub pre-match turns to an early morning US attack on Caracas. I guess it's wall-to-wall coverage but it's the first I’ve heard of it.
Day 4
No news almost 100% today. I'm more careful about switching on the TV today, muting the sound at the outset. Unfortunately when scrolling the TV guide to avoid the news, the schedule for Channel 4 has an updated title for its news programme to include the headline 'Trump running Venezuela' or similar. I join the dots.
Day 5
My first real news free day
Day 6
And another. Winning?
Day 7
Today I'm told Kevin Keegan has cancer. The news pops up on my son and daughter's phone seconds apart prompting a conversation. As expected, I can switch off my news alerts but not of those around me.
A Channel 4 news programme listing again intrudes into my consciousness to suggest US and UK forces have seized a Russian flagged vessel. The title asks: is this a part of Trump's new world order?
Ironically of all the news programmes C4 news was probably my last mainstay- the least trivial. Now it seems to mock my decision to avoid news by inserting the news headline or talking point into its daily title to catch my attention.
Day 8
Social media appears to remain the main gateway to algorithm driven news. I’m trying to avoid it, but once again an innocent web search sucks me back and I'm scanning stories that I'm trying to avoid. It's a blur to be honest. I can't recall what exactly they are about but again snap out of it when I catch myself. It's a habit I need to break. They've made it addictive so it's not easy. Maybe we need to acknowledge we've become addicts before we can move on?
In other news, I learn Terry Yorath has died through family conversation. RIP.
Day 9
Today I learn that apparently the weather and stadium lights have turned Birmingham pink. I am shown a picture on my son’s phone. Pretty.
Day 10
Heading to a football away game in a friend’s car today so expecting unavoidable radio news. The car radio is on low so I miss the initial headline but I do learn some poor soul has died when a tree fell on a caravan. RIP.
Later in the same trip, I learn there's rioting in Iran despite threats of being shot on sight. I also learn that Trump's US is still expressing its right to take control of Greenland to protect its interests. Venezuela is not enough it would seem.
Day 11
Returning from the weekend away today, so exposed to more radio news in the car. Thankfully much is lost behind conversation but occasionally a bulletin falls in a pause leaving me exposed. I hear several unavoidable snippets including: former UK ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson using his sexuality as a shield from ‘guilt by association’ with Jeffry Epstein; there's more on rioting in Iran; I learn local councils are now being required to report on the effectiveness of their use of extra government money to address pot holes, and finally the opposition Tories backing age restrictions on social media following the Australian government's lead. I'd say three out of the four items I hear are public relations driven news. One, it seems to me at least, is a news event: there is widespread rioting in Iran.
I'm again reflecting on the nature of news, what it might be and who and how decides how it's served up. How much do events shape our news and how much is shaped by press releases or public relations agencies.
I'm also thinking social media should be regulated for adults not just children, not least because it serves up unwanted content no matter how you change the settings.
Day 12
Failed by my own standards today for the first time in that I clicked on a known general news source. I had read the Chester FC match report direct from the club, then as a creature of habit searched for the local report to compare it with - there are two sides to every story. I end up reading a local Scunthorpe ‘newspaper’ news report online. Both reports confirm what I witnessed: a scrappy close competitive game on not the best surface that Chester lost. For me, however, it's an own goal and the first genuine general news source consulted consciously.
I reflect on this habit of experiencing, reliving through some else's eyes, in this case a club match report, then checking for an alternative view - a news outlet from the home team’s area - to counter any bias. Triangulating and building layers to get a better picture. In this case in anticipation of potential bias through sporting allegiance.
How do we triangulate the news? How and who is building the picture. What is being missed out? How much has the line been blurred between reporting and opinion? Has the balance shifted between informed opinion and terrace talk with greater weight to the ‘voice from the pub’?
I am still playing with privacy and content settings on my smart phone to avoid being fed “news” by algorithms. I thought I'd switched off the feed related to google but now realise I need to switch off the ‘discover' feature for both chrome and google apps. They don't make it easy. I wonder why? Keeping us hooked for as long as possible to consume adverts between outrages perhaps?
Today I was told by my family that Love Island may be cancelled because the Love Island villa has had to be evacuated due to wild fires in South Africa. Climate reporting had rarely cut through in my day, maybe things are changing.
Day 13
Little news today but some more discussion of the Love Island situation amongst the family.
Day 14
News free.
Day 15
I'm still on various mailing lists from different organisations, not news ones obviously. Annoyed to receive an email from the Labour Party today gloating at Tory disarray with Robert Jenrick on verge of defecting to Reform.
I'm disappointed that it's newsworthy to be sent a gloating story when the party of government could be telling me about what it's doing to put right the shit show it inherited to make people's lives better.
I reflect that part of my despondency with the news is its excessive and narrow focus on this kind of political tittle tattle. The Laura Kuensberg glee of some irrelevant scoop she's been fed by the tory press office. The headline that prioritises the drama: the soap opera lens not the big picture.
The Jenrick story crops up after at the pub. He's defected apparently. Sinking ship. Rats.
Day 16
Woke up early this morning, too many beers probably. I end up lying awake mulling over various thoughts. They have a bearing on about the news and its nature and what's led me to this experiment of attempted self-imposed news exile. I wish I had a pencil to write these thoughts as I had rehearsed and refined them untying mental knots to gain some more clarity. Having to remember their essence now having slept in between I have lost the thread despite seengly endless distillation and rehearsal and refinement
I think part of my unrest stems from attending a travel exhibition the previous day. I noted a union flag patch on one of the other visitors' coats. The wearer, a male late 50s. The flag is surrounded by the words along the lines of ‘proud of my country ashamed of my government’. I found this extremely disconcerting at the time. It felt like the personification of the far right’s exploitation of our national flag. Why are so many people angry, including me? I feels like the weaponisation of social media and online engagement is polluting our media and cultural space. It's creating a divided society where our news content consumption creates competing realities and angry people!
Day 17
No news again.
Day 18
Foolishly open Instagram “just to check” then fall unconsciously into a doom scroll mode. It started innocently enough with music related stuff, then I wake up and snap out of it whilst reading about US federal agents using flash bombs and tear gas against protestors.
There's talk of Trump and Greenland at a family gathering. I have little to offer the conversation.
Day 19
No news. Getting the hang of this. Online news is always just around the corner, however, so have to stay on guard.
Day 20
A visit to Facebook today. I avoid direct news this time. But a friend has posted an opinion about Jenrick's defection to Reform that I notice between switching to page management
I learn BBC iPlayer is a trap for news avoiders. I scroll down trying to see what films and series there are to watch, only to discover if you go too far there's the news sliced and diced into short segments lying ready to be viewed. I don't consciously take these in enough to recall what they are about but I am sure they've seeped in subconsciously.
Day 21
Watching Michael Palin's Around the World in 80 Days whilst having tea this evening. It's clearly old with a grainy picture and a tell-tale square aspect ratio. This prompts my son to complain “we are only watching this because you don't watch the news”. I make it clear I'm not stopping anyone else, nor stopping discussion of the news. I go to leave, and it turns out he doesn't actually want to watch the news either. “Trump's being a dick” is all he says.
Day 22
Radio six music is on in the other room. A news bulletin drifts in. I hear the phrase ‘Arctic sentry’ alongside Greenland and Tariffs. Not entirely sure what’s happened but I mentally join the dots with my son’s comments from the previous day.
Day 23
This evening I'm told my son has had a BBC alert on his phone highlighting “10 minutes to the traitors final” . A news flash or programme advert? Not much difference these days I fear. How much news is promotion, in this case promoting entertainment?
Day 24
Had a really interesting conversation in the pub tonight with a friend who, though not newsless, shares similar news scepticism and is avoiding mainstream news more and more. We are discussing my resolution: what is the point and where will it end? Good questions. The process of articulating a response out loud and the discussion of this is really helpful to gather my thoughts .
We share a common view on the bias of the UK press and that the broadcast news, particularly the BBC news in the UK, is partial and presents a limited and press influenced view. My friend works for an organisation active in the Middle East and I have worked on climate change for many years. As a result of our experience and knowledge we can both see how the picture presented is partial and has been influenced by vested interests.
I explain my initial thoughts: the emerging ideas in their embryonic state. I use the term “attention hijacking” for want of a better phrase as a part of the problem. Competition for attention has reshaped what I think the news is.
We discuss the creeping march of the news from daily digest to 24/7 wall-to-wall commentary. The shift of consumption from print and traditional broadcast to online and the explosion of alternative sources, and the resultant relentless competition for our attention.
I articulate a craving for what I call a “1970s news". Not meaning some fanciful mythical period when the news was better, but I think meaning a period when there was more space between the news. I think this space is needed for context and clarity in contrast to our present situation with realtime endless chatter across multiple channels, a running commentary rather than a distillation of events.
I also express the wish to be informed by people who can provide context from knowledge. I don't want unending news with gaps filled with instant opinion, press releases and spin. I hate the dumbed down ‘vox pop’ segments when something important has happened and we go live to the pub to hear from a seemingly random section of members of the public: actually selected to confirm the editor's pre determined storyline.
My friend raises an interesting point that rings a bell: the emergence of news as entertainment and the rise of presenters as entertainers. He asks in what world did Kirsty Alsop become a social commentator and why? I'm guessing in the world of entertainment: the world of ‘10 minutes to the Traitors’ final.
Much food for thought today. Too much to write in one go. I think some of the points we discussed will influence later entries.
Day 25
Foolishly fall for a news story on instagram. Instead of reading posts about music from the bands I follow, I'm scanning a photograph of a photographer and US ICE agents. The photographer, fearing arrest, has thrown the camera towards a stranger to preserve the photos taken. Someone who is serious about preserving a perspective of an event fearful this is about to be lost to the agents of the powerful.
Day 26
A meal time talk turns to politics. Suella Braverman has now joined Reform apparently and the Tories are in trouble for a press release calling her ‘mental’. Or at least that's how it comes across second hand. Reform now the party of second hand Tories – the extreme right wing ones or perhaps they'd say the “mental” ones
It's ironic that much of the UK news media led by the press barons, but echoed and amplified by broadcast media, has fixated for decades on the UK Labour Party and a cultivated imagined threat of some ‘evil’ left wing take over whilst ignoring the takeover of the parliamentary Conservative Party by a sect happening in plain sight. By obsessing over Labour they've pinned its representatives down and held it back.
I also learn that Andy Burham, Labour mayor of Greater Manchester has not been given permission to stand as Labour candidate in the Gorton by-election. It appears the Labour hierarchy seem intent on losing rather than face a leadership challenge…
Day 27
I saw 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple today, an excellent installment in the 28 Days zombie film series Upon rewatching I was struck how Britain has succumbed to a kind of ‘rage virus’ (the cause of the Zombie outbreak in the film) in which those who produce and propagate the news have played a part in spreading the rage. I'm tired of raging at the TV screen, hence switching over or off.
Day 28
Another e-bulletin today, this one from the Cooperative party announcing an important step in housing reform
“Today the Government has published the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill – and it marks one of the biggest shifts in housing ownership for a generation.
For decades, leasehold has concentrated power in the hands of freeholders, while millions of residents have been left paying the price. This imbalance has been devastating: locking people into unfair contracts, spiralling costs and a system that strips communities of control over their own homes.
This draft bill is a great start. Alongside the cap on ground rents:
Leasehold is being banned in most cases
New flats will be built as commonhold, so you and your neighbours own the ground your flat is built on together
Existing leaseholders will get the right to switch, so you can be a part of this big new step in ownership.
This is a clear step towards something we’ve long argued for: common ownership as a serious, practical alternative. When people own things together, they are more invested in where they live – and in each other. Common ownership builds stronger communities. Strong communities build a better Britain.”
It's a lot more satisfying than Labour's “Jenrick’s defecting to reform” gloat. Certainly newsworthy to millions of people getting ripped off under current leasehold housing arrangements. I wonder if it's in the news though? If it is, I wonder if it's the main headline?
I'm reminded of a conversation in a trendy bar in London around 15 years ago. It was a progressive PR agency's anniversary bash and the guests included numerous people in public relations and social entrepreneurial roles. The person who I was talking to was disenchanted with politics and was surprised to hear me tell him about the Cooperative Party - a party with then one of the largest numbers of elected representatives in the UK (having an electoral pact with Labour).
Fast forward to today, I doubt many have heard of the Co-operative Party still. Contrast that to the role the news and wider media has had in the intervening time regularly featuring but rarely challenging the leader of a series of right-wing nationalist parties with virtually no elected representation at all. Slowly but surely they've been helping spread the rage virus of hate and turning his latest party into a potential serious challenger for power. I think I hate the news for that most of all.
Day 29
Thursday night is pub night, but tonight I don't pick up much second hand news at all. There is a discussion of the rise of influencers and influencing as a career choice. It follows a comment about Britain no longer being classed as free from measles due to drop in inoculation following the spread of unfounded fear about potential links between immunisation and other illnesses online.
Day 30
No direct news today.
Day 31
Getting reasonably good at this now. I manage to miss direct news successfully, but living news free comes up in conversation when we have neighbours around for a meal. There's agreement about the intrusion of 24/7 news into our lives. My neighbour isn't living news free but reports having had their fill of news by mid morning then avoiding it otherwise it becomes overbearing and exhausting.
Later in the conversation the topic becomes about optimism and pessimism. I'm in the pessimistic camp, but my neighbours assure me it's generational and young people won't accept any of the nonsense we are seeing. They highlight Minneapolis as a sign of people standing up to tyranny. I wonder what's going on there? I can only guess.
February
Day 32 - 1st February
One month down, eleven to go and today I'm news free again.
Day 33 - 2nd February
Today I’m reading music posts on instagram. A band I like, Cheekface, is featured in a top hundred albums from 2025 list. I’m soon instinctively looking for the story online on the Under The Radar website but instead I see British artist Billy Bragg has released a protest song for Minneapolis: “City of Heroes”. The sub heading says it's inspired by the murders of Alex Pretti and Renee Good by ICE Agents. It's one of the recommended singles of the week along with Bruce Springsteen's ‘Streets of Minneapolis’. I listen to both tracks and the weekend's conversation has new meaning. Rest in Peace.
In addition to railing against injustice and remembering the names of those killed, the lyrics to both songs raise questions of the importance of bearing witness and countering official narratives from the powerful. To me good news coverage bears witness, bad news parrots lies.
The Billy Bragg song also highlights how ignoring injustice against others because it doesn't affect you soon comes back to bite you. His song references the ghost of Martin Niemöller and paraphrases his famous line ‘first they came for the communists and I did not speak out because I was not a communist’. I am conscious of my own concern about this experiment, notably that avoiding news could be seen as choosing ignorance and not being concerned for the plight of others. In this case sitting back whilst facism takes hold again. I'm also conscious of the paradox that one of the reasons for this path has been the news media's apparent complicity in the rise of the far right. Perhaps writing these notes is me bearing witness after all…
Day 34 - 3rd February
A no news day.
Day 35 - 4th February
Not so lucky today, I catch a snippet of BBC radio six news when arriving home from town. The radio is on loud in the kitchen so I hear part of a story about Peter Mandelson retiring from the House of Lords. Perhaps his earlier preemptive public relations work failed? I close the door before hearing the details.
The Simpsons happens to be at the same time as the news this evening and is very much on topic for my reflections. It's an old episode called Fraudcast News in which the writers shine their satirical light on the news and media monopolies.
Simpsons spoiler alert: Lisa Simpson ends up pitted against nuclear power plant owner Montgomery Burns. Burns has turned into a media tycoon when he buys up all local media outlets to ensure he and his interests are presented in a favorable light. Lisa's newspaper, produced with her school friends, ends up as the last remaining independent news source in Springfield. Despite resisting multiple attempts by Burns to take over or silence her publication, Lisa eventually throws in the towel and publishes a final farewell edition. It seems Burns has won, but with a final twist Lisa's father Homer responds to her heartbreak with his own newspaper. Many of the townsfolk are then seen distributing their own newspaper creations with the killer line from Homer something like “instead of one big shot controlling the media, now there's a thousand freaks xeroxing their worthless opinions”.
I'm thinking the episode was certainly on point for its time poking fun at Rupert Murdoch's news and media empire building and its influence, with the counterpoint of the explosion of personal online publishing. But time has moved on since then. There has been a flourishing of multiple online sources. These have competed with old media for attention and reshaped it in the process often for the worse. It's also not been the uncontrollable democratisation of the media. The powerful have fought back since. Instead of just owning newspapers, those who seek to promote their own interests now exert control via the platforms and algorithms through which we find these new sources and the programmes and characters we see. The tech barons increasingly control the content we see in the way the press barons did before.
It's certainly not a level playing field. To use Homer Simpson terms, whilst thousands and thousands of ‘freaks' are vlogging, blogging, podcasting and presenting their own news and opinion, not all content is created or accessed equally. We live in a world of influencers and influenced. Celebrities command profile and clout with reality TV a career path to influence. Many ‘freaks’ do gain influence and their opinions however partial, ill informed and extreme are far from worthless but a lucrative money spinner in the new attention economy. It's now very much a world of click bait where shock, controversy and conspiracy sells. It's also a world where microtargeting ensures the content we see presses our unique buttons for better or worse. It's a world of online bubbles, not universal experience. The result can mean neighbours in the real world living in parallel realities online. Cheery stuff hey!
Day 36 - 5th February
Pub night and there is some conversation about a drug enhanced ‘olympics’ and £20 tickets for Harry Styles. That's as newsy as it gets.
Day 37 - 6th February
Today I attend the monthly Seniors Blues meeting at the football club. The main speaker is a councillor talking on the ‘one city plan’ for Chester. One of the presentation slides is a selection of local news headlines over the years to illustrate the importance of shaping a positive future. The accompanying comment from the speaker is pertinent to my musings. He talks of the importance of local journalists in challenging stories and holding organisations to account. Over time he bemoans there are now few local journalists left, if any. The quality of local coverage is suffering as a consequence with most local stories now often just simple click bait headlines.
Day 38 - 7th February
News free.
Day 39 - 8th February
News clear again.
Day 40 - 9th February
Today my daughter informs me that the parliamentary Labour Party hasn't imploded. At least not yet. When met with a blank face, and in the knowledge of my self imposed news ignorance, she explains… Apparently Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has been under sustained flack concerning his original appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the USA and what was or wasn't known at the time about his relationship and dealings with Jeffry Epstein. Starmer’s chief of staff and political strategist McSweeny has gone though. Senior figures still ‘have confidence’ blah blah blah!
To be honest I'm glad I'm not in the news consumption seat listening to the inane ‘he said she said’ nonsense. It sounds like the vultures are circling over Starmer. His day one opening speech signalling a break from the relentless psycho drama of the previous administration, seems hopelessly optimistic in the face of a news that feeds on drama (and has no love for Labour). It’s negativity: drip drip drip. Is the right wing press bearing witness to injustice here? No, they're continuing with their relentless pursuit of labour scalps whenever and wherever a potential weakness can be found until they bring down the elected government. Forget the benefits of leasehold reform when there's blood to be had and disillusionment to propagate!
Day 41 - 10th February
No news.
Day 42 - 11th February
The winter Olympics is proving a useful distraction away from news channels.
Day 43 - 12th February
Instagram music posts remain my gateway to ‘newsy’ content. A band member I follow has posted about Jim Radcliffe billionaire Manchester United wannabe owner big shot. It appears he's been on the news commenting about how Britain has been ‘colonised by migrants’. This is a bit rich (pun intended) for a billionaire who appears to have left Britain for tax purposes. It’s noteworthy in my reflections for a couple of reasons:
(i) A billionaire, now apparent tax avoiding migrant, appears to be on the UK news to spout their views. I guess this is not a million miles from owners of UK newspapers and media outlets, not living in the UK to avoid paying their share of tax, spouting similar lines in order to get ‘their people’ into power to tip the balance in their favour.
(ii) A grassroots reaction with people flagging up the rank hypocrisy of these billionaire tax migrants generating a backlash on social media. This backlash reaches some bubbles - including one with me in - but also amplifies the conversation initiated by said billionaire about migration. I’ve not seen anything on social media about leasehold reform.
Wouldn't it have been better to keep people like Jim Radcliffe out of the news in the first place? Wouldn't it be better if the things that ‘cut through’ were about attempts to improve our lives?
Pub night and I'm asked by a young student what my feelings are about Reform. My resultant outburst reminds me that whilst I have not been getting as wound up by avoiding the news I am still infected by rage.
Afterwards, I reflect that my rage about the rise of Reform is definitely a large part of my hostility towards the modern newscape. I judge it complicit in support for past conservative orthodoxy and now the rise of more extreme right wing racist nationalism. A news that features billionaires spouting on about Britain being “colonised by migrants”. Blame the imagined evil migrant for your woes, not the tax avoiding billionaires whipping up hatred to use for their own interests!
Day 44 -13th February
Lucky day. No news, but some discussion indirectly with friends on a night out about how messed up and biased our press is. The press as a force in shaping events in their owners' interests. Jim Radcliffe unprompted makes an appearance in the conversation
Day 45 - 14th February
A musician I follow reposts an Amnesty International ‘reel’ into my Instagram timeline saying the Royal Court of Justice has ruled the government’s prescription of Palestine Action as a terrorist group is unlawful. It's good to hear the legal system appears to still work. Here's hoping this decision is not appealed by the government. From what was reported at the time it seemed the original move was overreach a misuse of power to divert attention from what appeared was a gross lapse in security at a military base at a time of heightened global tension. It sounded like the group was involved in vandalism which in my view should be treated as such.
Again musicians are feeding me news events.
Day 46 - 15th February
No news
Day 47 - 16th February
Today I learned second hand, stopping with friends, that there has been some controversy at the Olympics with allegations of ‘double tapping’ in curling. Also there is a conversation about the use of drugs to increase the size of male ski jumpers private parts. It's prompted by the presence of a giant banana in a shop in the lake district.
Day 48- 17th February
Limited news again. The friends we are staying with know about my news exile. When talking of places to visit, I hear Columbia is off their plans due to Trump's threats to take over emboldened by his moves in Venezuela. This could be old news, but fits part of the pattern that occasionally seeps into my consciousness. The positive part of my experiment is that by avoiding endless Trump utterances delivered via news, he has less influence on me and my mood. I have agency to remove Trump from intruding daily.
Day 49 - 18th February
No news and riding a bike around Grasmere with friends: living well.
Day 50 - 19th February
Helping change a car headlight bulb when my daughter calls out the news from in the house that Andrew (formerly Prince Andrew) has been arrested. No sweat!
Later in the pub I'm told Andrew has been released but maybe subject to further questioning concerning potential misconduct in public office.
The @glastothingy account has posted a picture from Glastonbury with graffiti on a fence pronouncing ‘Prince Andrew is a Sweaty Nonce’. What a time to be living news free!
Day 51 - 20th February
No news. Still enjoying the Olympics.
Day 52 - 21st February
In an unexpected turn in a conversation about running and pacemaking, I learn an Austrian climber has been prosecuted for leaving his girlfriend up a mountain. Apparently she subsequently froze to death.
Day 53 - 22nd February
Went to a gig the previous night so checked for Instagram gig posts this morning. Instead of music I find myself viewing a story ‘reel’ clipped from a fox news channel of a protester dressed as a giant middle finger being chased by armed US government agents in full riot gear. Not sure how current the clip is or what the outcome was of the chase.
Day 54 - 23rd February
News free.
Day 55 - 24th February
Travelling to Worcester in a neighbour's car for another away game, the conversation amongst news watchers present turns to the BAFTAs and the broadcast of the ‘N word’ shouted by an actor with tourettes. I bet that will feature highly in the news media: the perfect combination of the state broadcaster and whipped up controversy about editorial choices to turn the wheels of the manufactured outrage factories.
In a pub in Worcester (Chester FC away to Hereford) I’m told it's been four years since Russia invaded Ukraine. The news channels are on in the pub TV screens but with volume thankfully turned down. I sit under a screen to avoid scrolling headlines and video distraction.
Day 56 - February 25th
Exposed to Classic FM news on the return journey from Worcester. Energy costs are coming down by April the government says. A new electronic travel document will now apply to various nationalities visiting Britain at a cost of £16. No doubt we'll all be paying in new tit for tat travel barriers developed for our world of surveillance. The harpoon used in the film Jaws is up for auction along with a star wars light saber.
I later catch a line that appears to suggest Peter Mandelson has been arrested.
Back home I walk into the living room when my wife is watching a news channel. A quick dose of ‘serious editorial questions to be answered by the BBC over their BAFTA coverage’ or similar has me out of the room sharp. I could write this stuff! BBC crucifying the BBC and feeding the news cycles
Day 57 - February 26th
Pub conversation confirms it’s the Gorton by-election today
Day 58 - 27th February
I learn Reform were beaten in the Gorton by-election via an email from Hope Not Hate. Later I see that the green candidate won via a friend's story post on Instagram. The details are filled in a phone conversation with a friend, labour third place behind reform. Where's Andy Burnham when you need him…
Day 59 -28th February
Leaving today's football match, a friend mentions america, Iran and the middle east in a concerned tone.
March
Day 60 - 1st March
Visiting my parents today as heading off on a month long Inter Rail trip starting the following day. Our goal is Instanbul. ‘You're not going to Turkey are you?’ says Mum ‘The Foreign Office is warning against it’. Later, I check the FCO travel advice which actually warns against travel to parts of Turkey within 10 miles of the Syrian border. Much of the gulf states have ‘don't travel’ advisories however.
In the evening, I notice a post from a band I follow on Instagram with links to Iran, that indicates there are people out celebrating the death of dictator Khamenei, despite fear of what may still come.
Day 61 - 2nd March
A month of Inter-railing begins. It should be easier to avoid news now, or at least different challenges?
There are indeed no direct encounters with news today. I do note my wife manoeuvres me into a seat away from a TV screen in a Brussels bar. I neither see nor hear it.
Day 62 - 3rd March
I wake up somewhere in Germany with a news free 24 hours enjoyed. This is probably aided by my phone not connecting with data since leaving the UK.
An updated ‘APN’ setting fixes the problem but will it open the news floodgates?
Day 63 - 4th March
News free in Prague
Now advised by my mother-in-law that the FCO is advising against travel to Turkey.
Day 64 - 5th March
Today on arrival in Poland, I learn in an email from Zap Map that a Community Benefit Society has won an appeal against HMRC concerning the VAT rate on electricity from its community-based public electric vehicle chargers. This means it should now qualify for the 5% domestic rate and not the 20% VAT rate HMRC had argued. This could be a big win for motorists who have to rely on public chargers.
Get a call from our kids this evening. They haven't had time to clean because of ‘the war’ my son quips.
Day 65 - 6th March
Led by a former work colleague on a walking tour of Krakow today. Great to get a local's perspective. The walking tour passes through the old Jewish quarter complete with some points of historical interpretation on the nazi establishment and liquidation of the Krakow Jewish ghetto during WWII. Horrific stuff.
The juxtaposition of past and present and the reverberation of past events impacting the present is illustrated at various points. From past cruelty during World War 2 to hearing about the impact of the present war in Ukraine on lived experience in Poland today.
Afterwards, I ponder on the difference between contemporary accounts and history. What and how do today's events end up as history? Perhaps with space and time their significance can be judged.
Day 66 - 7th March
In the morning, I learn a new Harry Styles album is out via my wife.
I spend part of afternoon underground in a salt mine away from news intrusion
We make it back in time some for some live streamed commentary of the Chester FC Darlington game. Chester score in the dying moments to win 2 1. Later we have the local TV on for the first time since leaving home and catch most of the Wrexham Chelsea FA Cup game which Wrexham lose 4 2. I've never felt more like singing the blues…
Day 67 - 8th March
No great news media intrudes today, but more to ponder on history after visiting the Krakow museum at the Schindler's factory with its presentation and interpretation of local events under Nazi occupation. The events are portrayed with various artefacts, testimony and interpretation, not pulling punches either. One corridor focuses on how the Nazis wielded power through their use of ‘ terror’. It documents the first moves for forced resettlements to make Krakow a ‘city free of Jews’ as well as the mass arrests imprisionment torture and execution of various opponents designed to subjucate the population and crush rebellion and resistance. There are photographs and mementos of prisoners, “death poster” lists publicly naming those executed or to be executed, and tools of torture and restraint. Sunk into the walls there are several backlit frames with photos from public executions making grim viewing. I am particularly disturbed by the reaction of several visitors clamouring for their phones to photograph the gallows dead. It makes me ponder a world that gravitates towards extreme content.
There are many stories concerning the news too, both how the Nazis sought to control it for propaganda and how those who resisted risked all to receive and share outlawed alternative sources.
Walking back from the museum there are more local police around than earlier and it becomes evident there is some sort of march or demonstration taking place. Later in the old town square we see a small rally with various flags flying including, if I'm not mistaken several Iranian flags, a US and Israel flag amongst them too.
Back at our accommodation I'm told by my wife there is queuing at the cinema back in Chester for the presentation of Harry Styles latest Manchester live performance.
Day 68 - 9th March
Visit Auschwitz. A sombre day. Will we learn from history?
Day 69 - 10th March
Waiting for the train and default to Instagram. Catch a post from a band about Iranians being bombed from without and shot by the Iranian regime from within.
Absently scroll to catch a headline that UK emissions are at 150 year low. Stop when I realise my mindless habit, but at least some positive news crept in this time not just Middle Eastern madness.
Day 70 - 11th March
Wake up travelling through the Romanian countryside after catching the night train from Vienna to Bucharest. I'm completely insulated from the news watching the countryside drift by: horses and carts, dogs, swans, new EU funded infrastructure projects etc.
Returning to the hotel, after some sightseeing, I can't avoid a TV screen in the lobby showing missiles launching and sounds of sirens whaling. Looks like Romanian for Iran on the subtitles.
Day 71 - 12th March
Another train day, this time from Bucharest to Sofia. When boarding the train we converse briefly with a fellow Brit who was supposed to be in India but with ‘what's going on’ it hasn't happened. Instead his wife is holidaying in Turkey whilst he explores Romania and Bulgaria by train.
Beyond the hint of travel disruption associated with ‘what's going on’ the train tootles along through news free vistas of flat the Romanian countryside, occasional oil wells and solar farms . In the afternoon, onboard our first Bulgarian train, we travel again news free, the countryside is more varied punctuated with occasional settlements and some crumbling abandoned industrial buildings from another age.
That night I call home from the hotel to congratulate my brother who is now a grandad. We also talk about our travel progress. I say we've been hammering the train travel the last couple of days so we can make it to Istanbul on time to dawdle back. We are told ‘you might not want to be going there as there's been an alert about travel to Turkey’ (and later in the conversation a new advisory on Cyprus.)
After the call, I check FCO advice to Turkey and it's the same as before advising against all travel to ‘parts’ of Turkey notably within ten miles of the Syrian border. It's the third alert from relatives that implies what they have heard is more alarming than the actual advice.
Check FCO advice to Cyprus too, not that we are going there, and read there has been a suspected drone attack against an RAF base. Still no advisory against travel…
I'm told by my wife that Chester Tescos is reopening on the 30th of March. If we survive Istanbul there's something to look forward to I guess.
Day 72 - 13th March
Friday 13th, lucky day, no news.
Check the FCO advice before making the reservation for the night train to Istanbul: no change, no drama.
Day 73 - 14th March
Another no news day, this time in a country that appears to feature in most of my family's news updates as a UK government advised ‘no go’ zone even though it isnt. Is this a result of news coverage trying to make whatever is happening in the middle east into a ‘how it impacts us’ story helping spread fear whilst glossing over the actual less exciting advice?
Day 74 - 15th March
News free visiting mosques, ancient water systems and a heritage tram
Day 75 - 16th March
Mostly News free today watching the world go by from ferries along the Bosporus. See some newspapers in a kiosk but can't read Turkish so am immune to their headlines.
Later my wife tells me some edited highlights on which films won Oscars
Day 76 - 16th March
News and incident free.
Day 77 - 17th March
Final day in Istanbul is news free. It almost seems like an anticlimax.
Day 78 - 18th March
Enjoy a news free day in Plovdiv back in Bulgaria
Day 79 - 19th March
News free travelling to and exploring the medieval capital of ancient Bulgaria Veliko Turnovo.
Day 80 - 20th March
Travel back to Romania and on to Brasov without a whiff of any news. Too busy making connections to be drawn by distractions?
Day 81 - 21st March
The rhythm of travel has largely disrupted news influence over me. Studying train tables rather than social media feeds.
I am kept up to date with the Chester FC score and manage to catch the live commentary online towards the end of the match, just to hear Southport equalize and then score the winner. Our late play off dreams appear to be dashed again!
Day 82 - 22nd March
Visit Bran Castle today. It's interesting how a fictional character, Count Dracula the vampire, has been associated with this particular building. Apparently it wasn't visited by Bram Stocker the author, nor even around at the time of Vlad the Impaler whose name ‘Drucul’ Stoker adopted for his mysterious Transylvanian count.
The interpretation at Bran Castle is cleverly done detailing the history of the building, its restoration and use by the Romanian royal family before diverting into Romanian folk law and superstition. It ultimately gives visitors what they came for the hint and suggestion that it is Drucula’s castle (spoiler alert: including a coffin in a candle lit room!)
I’m later pondering the centrality in human communication of ‘the story’, our innate ability to latch on to characters and a gripping story line. Facts and dates don't really cut through. Our wider understanding of the world beyond our immediate experience is understood through the lens of a tapestry of stories including danger and horror.
News is story telling, but to what degree are the characters and stories confections of those telling or spinning them? I'm thinking about the cultivated buffoonery of Boris Johnson, the painstaking building of a character resulting in Johnson being not held to the same standards as other politicians. Then there's Farage, the cultivated ‘man of the people’ courted and routinely paid to appear and present on radio and television. Rarely seriously challenged. Certainly not treated to the same levels of scrutiny as other politicians.
Day 83 - 23rd March
Having had a good news free run, musicians remain the main online crack through which I glimpse news events. Waiting to catch a night train and I open a new email from artist ‘The Undercover Hippy'. An extract follows:
‘The US and Israel are bombing the shit out of Iran in a war of aggression that they decided to codename "Epic Fury" (yes, a bunch of rich white men with small cocks got together in a room and decided on that name), Iran retaliated in the exact way that it said it would if attacked by closing the Straight of Hormuz, and now Trump is having a meltdown and throwing his toys out of the pram. This might be amusing if it wasn't for the fact that his toys include over 5000 nuclear warheads. So now he's threatening to destroy all of Iran's civilian power stations (a war crime), and if he does Iran will retaliate by destroying key energy infrastructure in the Gulf, plunging the world into an economic crisis that will likely be even bigger than the 2008 financial crash. All this just so that Netanyahu could cling onto power a little longer and Trump could live out his fantasy of being the guy who "bombed the middle east into peace" (new song brewing).’
The email continues
“Meanwhile the internet is busy arguing over whether Netanyahu is even alive, claiming that videos of him appearing in public are all AI. This marks the beginning of a new phase of the breakdown of our ability to inhabit a shared reality, where literally nothing that you see can be believed and everything can be denied.”
It goes on to highlight the case of a fake AI musician created to promote right wing views funded by a right wing group.
Seems like the world is pretty much as I left it when going news free. Just with more death and destruction, economic turmoil and ever present distraction and AI deception (designed to make us hate each other rather than those who cause the disruption in our lives and who rig ‘the system’ in their favour.)
Day 85 - 24th March
Wake up in Hungary, breakfast in Austria, travel onward to Slovenia. Catch me if you can news. No chance today!
Day 86 - 25th March
A day exploring Ljubljana without news.
Not for the first time I'm left with the sense of ignorance about the eastern european countries we have been visiting. All that news and current affairs I used to consume and yet have so little knowledge about the places we've been visiting to show for it. Surely I should know more than ‘it was behind the iron curtain under communism’. The capital cities we have been visiting should surely register more than a Eurovision song contest jury call?
Day 87 -26th March
Check messages with breakfast. Receive a link from my brother that takes me to a news article about Volkswagen recalling thousands of vehicles due to a potential battery fault. Our vehicle could be one of them - then again it might not.
There's an email from Hope Not Hate too titled ‘Wanted: doomscrollers'. It begins:
“Right now, social media and online community groups are so often dominated by hateful conversations. Divisive voices can be the loudest and most persistent online.
But we know most people in the UK believe in fairness, kindness and decency. So we want to help make sure these values are better represented in online conversations.”
In response, Hope Not Hate is “building a community of volunteers to use their existing presence on social media (whether you’re doomscrolling or not!) to amplify positive messages”. I am invited to be part of it.
If I hadn't stopped posting and cut down social media consumption drastically I think I might be interested, but past attempts to engage in online have left me exhausted too. Hopefully the promised training and guidance helps to ensure one isn't conversing with a far right AI bot army…
I reflect on the notion of ‘joining the conversation’ online to shape it positively. The news has always had a role in shaping our notion of reality. Those with power, wanting to influence our thoughts, have used news media to do this. But today in a world of 24/7 competition for our attention with millions of potential sources of news - dubious and otherwise - it's a relentless cacophony of voices screaming for attention where shock, controversy and drama stands out more, where tech barons can adjust and fine tune who and what we find.
Later after a visit to Lake Bled, waiting in a station cafe a series of phone alerts go off as the Slovenian government alerts us to an environmental hazard: extremely high winds. As if on cue a gust takes the lid of a rubbish bin and sends it careering down the station.
We escape the winds of Slovenia for the snow of Austria
Day 88 - 27th March
Passing through spectacular snowy mountain scenery I note over fifty percent of the passengers are heads down viewing content on phones. I suppose I was no different on my daily commute, just less spectacular scenery to miss than this.
Day 89 - 28th March
Another day, another country. Two in fact: Blink and you might miss Lichtenstein but then hours of the Glacier Express route through Switzerland (done on the local stopper trains) with blue skies, sunshine, snow and majestic peaks to hold the attention. Breath taking. Not many people on the train today are on their phones. Most seem to have skis.
Mental note: make more time to connect with the natural world.
We haven't watched much TV on the ubiquitous hotel flat screens during our trip, but today catch some of the Manchester derby in the women's super league on BBC One. City win 3 nil.
Later tentatively advance through the channels with mute on to avoid news. Successfully navigate a clump of news channels without time to fathom what is being spoken to camera. End up with the Gladiators final and some of Britain's got talent.
Whatsapp messages confirm Chester FC have beaten Curzon 1 nil and we are now ‘only three points off the playoffs'. We were three points off the playoffs when we left to go Inter Railing.
Eurostar alerts my wife to new restrictions on carrying meat and dairy to the UK due to some foot and mouth outbreaks.
Day 90 - 29th March
Big train day. Need to cover some ground to connect with tomorrow's Eurostar train back to the UK from Brussels. The spectacular scenery of Switzerland flattens to a more familiar German landscape as I am conveyed news free towards Frankfurt and onwards back to Belgium and Brussels.
Day 91 - 30th March
Final day of our rail adventures. A lazy morning after the previous day's rail marathon. I learn, through an email from an energy charity, that the Government has detailed its plans for the introduction of “plug in” solar panels. As the name suggests these can simply be plugged into a wall socket reducing installation costs. I already know this technology is popular in other parts of Europe particularly for renters living in flats with balconies. If all goes to plan, plug in solar units should be available in UK shops within months. Good news.
I also learn that new rules are finally in place to make the Future Homes Standard operational. As someone who has a sustainability background, both professionally and as a volunteer, this is an important and long overdue development. The wider story behind this serves to illustrate the power of vested interest lobbyists and their accomplices in the news media.
Rewind to when the Tories were toxic and in opposition (not this time, the last!) David Cameron then party leader makes a great effort to recast the party as modern and caring with a solar panel and wind generator installed at his house, photos of travel to the arctic to show concern for climate etc. There's cross party consensus on the need for climate action.
Later on, the Conservatives now in power, a spike in energy prices and Cameron famously puts back plans to introduce new regulations designed to improve building standards. He also reduces requirements on energy companies to contribute to improving existing homes to make them more energy efficient. He's now ‘cutting the green crap’. With industry lobbying and a complicit news media, what are widely supported measures are now recast as burdens adding to people's bills. The result is that we've lost over a decade when new homes have been built to lower standards and will now need upgrading at greater cost by their owners. Over this time people's bills have actually been higher because new build standards and efforts to upgrade older buildings have been lower than they could have been.
Sadly, the story of ‘green crap’ adding to bills, is now even more prevalent. The media-cast evil ‘Red Ed’ Milliband has actually acted with complete common sense - and in tune with almost every conversation I have had with members of the public over the last decade when talking about clean energy: ‘why don't they make house builders fit solar panels?’ He's finally pushed through standards we could have enjoyed for years. Who has benefited during this lost time? It's certainly not the public!
Stories and characters! Stories and characters! Spin the new plot with the characters you've shaped and there are real world consequences.
After an afternoon exploring Brussels, there's a fast train to London and a slightly slower one to home. Picked up at the train station by my daughter, I learn diesel is now over £1.70 and some petrol stations have run out of unleaded. Operation “Epic Fury" is coming home…
Day 92 - 31st March
This morning I hear my daughter talking about Scott Mills leaving the BBC.
My brother calls around later. He reports the price of diesel at £1.88 and some panic buying. If the conflict in the Middle East continues longer term then real shortages, not just panic induced ones, may be a thing he thinks. We talk about the impact on prices, the economy and travel. I mention the Turkey travel alarm being raised three times by family on our way to Istanbul in spite of advice to the contrary. He tells me that Turkey has shot down several incoming missiles. He also mentions seeing footage showing the skyscrapers of Dubai getting hit.
Epic Fury. Epic consequences all round. Epic Fail.
Search for something beginning with I and youtube offers ‘Iran war’ as a suggestion.
Now back home and three months of this news free experiment in, I decide to share my story so far. This was never my original intention, but writing these thoughts down for my eyes only doesn't make much sense. It may be that there are others who are struggling with ‘the news’ to whom this diary will amuse and resonate with. Of course, the irony of sharing content online in a world bombarding us with stories is not lost on me either. Time to join the ‘freaks’ sharing their ‘worthless opinions’. Publish and be damned. If you enjoyed this may come back for more in around three months?
