There is a reoccuring topic in the great conversations I have on Steemit: The state of Television. Often it is met with the phrase "I do not watch TV", but why is that? How did it get to this? Was TV always that bad? What can we do!?
Warning: Video is slightly graphic towards the later half
Adam Freeland - We want your soul, the unofficial video.
The "why?" is very simply answered. It is about control. If you narrate what is said on TV, you can determine the public opinion. Such a powerful tool will get used, it is borderline insane to believe otherwise. There are no mechanisms in place for the demos/the people to control media, other than they can infiltrate it. Many journalists are not as high on the social ladder as they would love to be.
There is even a pseudo-mechanism to ensure objective media in Germany. It is called GEZ. Every German household has to pay the GEZ (about 17,50€ per month). With these funds the state tv ARD, ZDF, WDR and many other smaller "public" stations are mainly financed.
The thought behind this is to make them independent from corporate money. But with the German state just being an extension of the industrial complex, there is no real difference in the content shown in state and private media, the private stations just tend to be more flashy in their presentation.
On a side note state tv is called public-right television in Germany when you translate it literally, "right" as in your right to vote (Öffentlich-rechtliches Fernsehen). Subtle brainwashing through pretty words at its best!
Now to the "How did it get so bad?" and "was it always that bad?" I am just too young for a substantial contribution, sure I can research what happened and speculate, but a 30 year old brat like is just not the best source on this topic. I would love to hear 
original upload http://s6.photobucket.com/user/DKantrowitz/
My own process of unplugging was quite unspectacular. Since the time I developed my political consciousness (about 20 years ago, age 13) I was aware that 'you can not trust everything the TV says', which developed over the years into 'If you hear it on the news, it is most likely fabricated or out of context, better check it on the net and find out what is really happening'.
Funny thing is that this is not the reason I do not watch TV, it is rather quite hedonistic: The entertainment in the landscape of US series/shows is so vastly superior to Germans, that I only watch the english originals on Netflix or other streaming portals.
It started with Japanese Anime, that stuff was hard to come by in the year 200X Germany, so I started watching it with German subtitles. The first Anime I watched with subs was NGE and I even did a recent article on it here, it got me hooked for more anime. In the anime world english subs are always faster available than german and being the Otaku I was I wanted to watch my stuff asap. It was a bit of a struggle because I used to be a very bad english speaker growing up, but I have to thank Japanese anime for teaching me english after some time. The first US series that got me really hooked and in some way blew my mind was Sopranos, a criminally underrated/unknown show in Germany.
picture from Pearl Jam- Do the Evolution (official video)
So, that is my story on why I don't watch TV. It is more of a coincidence that I despise the entertainment brought to me by my local stations and that I am a harsh critic of todays state of journalism. Of course you can talk about the technical superiority of streaming vs only being able to watch a certain program to certain time. But I think I rambled enough for now :D
I would enjoy a discussion in the comments and new posts on this topic. If I don't follow you and you post about your relation to TV, please add me so I notice it.