10/04/2026
“I think news has in many ways replaced religion - which used to be the place you went to find out what was right and wrong, what mattered, the meaning of life ... we look to news as a system of authority, and it shapes our understanding of reality to an extraordinary degree.” Alain de Botton's excellent RSA talk, asking what is it that we're really looking for when we watch or read the news, and is it doing us any good.
To watch the full talk, please click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXW2743w8zM
“I think news has in many ways replaced religion - which used to be the place you went to find out what was right and wrong, what mattered, the meaning of life ... we look to news as a system of authority, and it shapes our understanding of reality to an extraordinary degree.” Alain de Botton's excellent RSA talk, asking what is it that we're really looking for when we watch or read the news, and is it doing us any good.
He notes that there are basically only 32 news stories ("archetypes"), explores how the news took over from religion (as Hegel noted - even on how its bulletins coincide with previous liturgical services), and how the main function of the news is to "make us scared, all the time, about everything".
Key points:
“If you want to keep a population supine, addicted to the status quo, unable to grasp their sense of what is possible and what could be changed, you’ve got two options: One, censor the news completely - North Korean option; the other option is the option we’re practising here: flood the people with news - give them so much news you don’t know what on earth is going on.”
“I think News has in many ways replaced Religion - which used to be the place you went to find out what was right and wrong, what mattered, the meaning of life - religion was the guiding force, and the philosopher Hegel says that a nation becomes modern when it shifts its allegiance from the church to the news. It’s not just that we look at the news at the same times, often, as the catholic Liturgy we would go and check in with prayers to God - it’s that we look to news as a system of authority, and it shapes our understanding of reality to an extraordinary degree.”
"There’s actually not that much news - the thing about the news though, is that it refuses to remind you of a fundamental fact, which is that there are only really a few stories in the world - there are really 32 news stories, and they just keep going round and round - they’re archetypes. The news doesn’t like telling you about archetypes - it only likes to tell you about so-called ‘original’ events. What we should try and do, as costumers of the news, is try and look out for them.”
"The other thing the news does is make us scared, all the time, about everything - bird flu, this and that flu, etc etc. The impact is huge. The feeling at that moment is always, 'I’m going to be killed’. The news takes us through these terrible cycles of fear - constant fear, fear, fear, FEAR. And then of course the odd hope - and the hope is centred always around science and technology, so the new iPhone, the new pills for curing Alzheimers - always the idea that over the horizon there is some cure to the problems of life, the problems of existence.”
"The BBC always vaunt themselves as saying, well we are un-unbiassed news source. It seems crazy to try and run away from bias - bias has got a very bad name, but really bias just means a ‘take’ on information, and what we need is not no bias, but ‘good bias’ - bias in favour of the things that we like - but because of this terror about being biased a very powerful media organisation at the centre of our society has run away from one of its great great challenges.”
"The thing about the news is that it’s obsessed by ‘bad eggs’ - individuals. But most of the things that are really wrong with our society - you can't bundle someone into a prison van and take them away. They are systemic problems that arise not from evil or crookedness, but from lazy thinking, lack of inspiration, etc. And the news is very bad at seeing systemic problems.”
"It is not 'the news.' It is some news, gathered together, often by very mediocre people, in a hurry, drinking cups of Styrofoam coffee, and not thinking too hard. And they've scooped up this stuff for you in order to make reality seem like it has a narrative. It's full of holes and errors. And we just have to keep our eyes open all the time."
"But the fundamental assumption of news is the most important things in the world have happened very recently. I mean I'm just being childishly simple. But that is the basis, right. The most important things have happened relatively recently, possibly since the last bulletin or since the last time you checked Twitter. Now, that is sometimes very true, sometimes very, very true, but almost never. It's very rarely true that the most important things in life happened very recently."
To watch the full talk, please click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXW2743w8zM
