Aside from NPR during the drive to and from work, I tuned out about 5 years ago. If anything important is happening, it will filter into Hubski or somewhere else, and I'll look into it.
I don't see the point in watching/reading mainstream news. Most of what they report does not concern me in any way. Not to mention that most is negative stuff anyway. There have always been deaths, murders, rapes, accidents, disasters, conflicts,... throughout time, and I don't see how my life would get better by knowing about all of them. I rather block this stuff out than to let it pour negativity onto me. The important things that I should be paying attention to will make their way to me somehow anyway. I much rather prefer reading news online on sites that I choose, so I get (a heck of lot more positive) news about what I actually want to hear about. E.g. Ars Technica.
I read the New York Times regularly, listen to some NPR stuff, watch Al Jazeera at least once a week, and read BBC news from their phone app daily. I have taken a month off main stream news, didn't find it particularly enriching. I don't believe every thing I read or watch. I am generally following a few stories that interest me closely over time and mostly use main stream news to find out about stuff that I am not following or to keep up on the most recent terrible thing.
NYT science reporting is truly amazing, especially given the general state of newspapers. I respect them a lot for having a comprehensive science section, but their political reporting was irreparably damaged by the Iraq war mongering. I know it was a long time ago, but I never quite got over it. Love Krugman, however, until he gets too repetitve.
This sums up my feelings on mainstream news perfectly. I haven't watched any main stream news for at least 3 years. For the past year I haven't even had cable, so it really wasn't an option. I don't read any newspapers (print or otherwise) and I don't visit news sites very often either. I rely heavily on aggregators to provide me with my news. Mainly Hubski but others too. I have friends that will send me links to articles etc. I do listen to NPR and I will also visit npr.org but I agree with you mk, it if is important it will filter down to me. Even NPR bothers me, it's pretty redundant but then it has to be, that's the expectation that has been set in the industry. Every day we have to postulate about the coming election starting 1 year out. It's madness. This quote is fantastic and I believe it to be true, especially when you consider that cable media is the "newspaper" of our age: “The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.” - Thomas Jefferson