Adam Curtis is one of my favorite contemporary thinkers. The conclusion he has drawn in this documentary seems to be that telling the news with complex details is essential if an intelligent and truthful picture of the situation is to be known.

This means people need to be able to shift their emotional satisfaction preferences, as far as news is concerned, away from the polarity of black and white thinking or the victim-abuser mindset. It means being able to sustain interest in comprehending complexity, not just a simple cartoon-version of real life. It means not having only sound bites but becoming familiar with a many-faceted narrative.

Complexity may be tedious to some but unless it is included in telling the whole story, the narrative may be falsely appealing in a black and white, good versus evil way. I do not think this is a hippie issue at all. I am biased as a former hippie. However, it is my observation of humanity that wanting a narrative to be told with emotions painted in simplistic, boldly colored ways with easy conclusions, is an international phenomenon, known in ages old folktales and mythology.

On TV these days there's mostly one kind of news, cheap infotainment that simplistically satisfies preconceptions as part of a backdrop of selling products. For actual news, told with contemplative complexity, one needs, in my experience, to come to the web and put the pieces together oneself.

In the past things that were complex were often conveyed in boring ways. To do justice to the truth of a story, news writers need to find ways to tell a complex tale - more of the whole story- in interesting ways. And audiences need to adjust to learning about the world in greater depth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Brooker%27s_Screenwipe

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Curtis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Power_of_Nightmares

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=power+of+nightmares#

http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/charliebrooker