History Main / IgnoredVitalNewsReports

In the world of TwentyFourHourNewsNetworks it's hard not to stay up to date with all the world's problems and issues. Well that's if you're actually paying attention to the news that is. This trope is when a lot of the impending doom and gloom has been ignored because the characters were going about their lives in a mundane, nonchalant way while ignoring all of the breaking news on the radio and TV. Usually missing out on the early reports of the incoming AlienInvasion, [[RobotWar the rise of the machines]], the coming ZombieApocalypse, or just bad crappy severe weather. Which of course would have saved them a lot of trouble later. [[TruthInTelevision But hey, this happens to us all in real life, right?]]

* ''ShaunOfTheDead'': the title character practically ignores every unusual event that's happening around him due to being very preoccupied by his miserable personal problems. In fact when he wakes up in the morning he changes the channel every for every news bulletin or boring show. Said news bulletins, which include a nature documentary, [[NewsMonopoly finish each others' sentences]] ([[ContrivedCoincidence even when switching to and from non-news channels]]), all talking about the dead coming back from the grave.

* The lead character in ''Day by Day Armageddon'' initially does this, But starts paying closer attention later on when talks of a "super bug" starts to spread in America.
** Well, to be perfectly accurate, since the story is framed as the main character's journal, he not only notes the news reports, but considers them important enough to record. However, it still serves about the same narrative purpose of having the unfolding ZombieApocalypse set up for the reader while the characters ignore it, since he treats fears about TheVirus dismissively.

* ''NightOfTheLivingDead'' famously has Johnny switch off the radio in the opening scene, just as the announcer is explaining that they're "back on the air after an interruption due to [[WeAreExperiencingTechnicalDifficulties technical problems]]".

** In the ''DawnOfTheDead'' remake, Ana does this with her car radio on her way home from work, and then she and her husband miss a TV report while taking a ShowerOfLove together.

* In ''FrightNight'', Charlie and his mother are busy conversing when a news report about a murder plays on the TV. While never explicitly stated as such, the victim was presumably killed by the vampire next door.

* ''ShaunOfTheDead'': the title character practically ignores every unusual event that's happening around him due to being very preoccupied by his miserable personal problems. In fact when he wakes up in the morning he changes the channel every time a news bulletin shows up. Said news bulletins [[NewsMonopoly finish each others' sentences]] ([[ContrivedCoincidence even when switching to and from non-news channels]]), all talking about the dead coming back from the grave.

* Minor example in ''{{Cheers}}'': when Lilith announces she's leaving Frasier, the latter threatens to jump off the building above the bar. Meanwhile in said bar, the gang is obliviously watching TV with Norm channel surfing and happening to glance a report about "some guy threatening to jump off a building". An extremely agitated Cliff then shouts at Norm to go back...to an episode of ''Quincy''. Only ''then'' does Sam ask to change to the "jumper" and they realize who it is.

* Forget the news!, In ''ShaunOfTheDead'', the title character practically ignores every unusual event that's happening around him due to being very preoccupied by his miserable personal problems. In fact when he wakes up in the morning he changes the channel every time a news bulletin shows up. Said news bulletins [[NewsMonopoly finish each others' sentences]] ([[BeyondTheImpossible even when switching to and from non-news channels]]), all talking about the dead coming back from the grave.

** In the ''DawnOfTheDead'' remake, Ana and her husband miss a TV report while taking a ShowerOfLove together.

** And yet again by Ana and her significant other in the ''DawnOfTheDead'' remake.

* Played with in IndependenceDay. Will Smith's character pays passing attention to the news, and assumes it's about the "small earthquake" he and his wife felt a few minutes prior. It's only when he gets outside and notices everyone hurriedly packing their cars that he takes a good look around and finally sees the MILE WIDE SPACE SHIP that he SHOULD have seen when he first walked out of his house!

* Forget the news!, In ''ShaunOfTheDead'', the title character practically ignores every unusual event that's happening around him due to being very preoccupied by his miserable personal problems. In fact when he wakes up in the morning he changes the channel every time a news bulletin shows up. Said news bulletins [[NewsMonopoly finish each others' sentences]], all talking about the dead coming back from the grave.

* A big part of Donna Noble's character prior to her meeting the Doctor in DoctorWho. Her friends would always tease her about her being too drunk/asleep/etc. to remember whatever recent calamity occurred. [[spoiler:It's played brutally in the last episode of series 4 - Donna has to have her mind wiped of her time with the Doctor to avoid dying. She wakes up the next day, back to her old ways pre-CharacterDevelopment, with no idea that the Earth had just been transported across space and time... Even though she was the critical factor in returning it to its rightful location.]]

* Forget the news!, In ''ShaunOfTheDead'', the title character practically ignores every unusual event that's happening around him due to being very preoccupied by his miserable personal problems. In fact when he wakes up in the morning he changes the channel every time a news bulletin shows up.
** And said news bulletins [[NewsMonopoly finish each others' sentences]], all talking about the dead coming back from the grave.
** Between being half-asleep and pre-occupied with his problems, he manages to leave the house, go to the corner shop, buy some food and come back home without noticing the zombies, crashed cars or spatters of blood along the way. He does get the point, but then gets distracted by Ed, who points out that there's a zombie in the backyard.
*** Actually, Ed points out that there's a girl in the backyard, with them not realising shes a zombie until she disembowls herself

** This is somewhat ironic, as according to a famous UrbanLegend, OrsonWelles' 1938 radio adaptation of the story caused a panic when people heard it on the radio and paid ''too much'' attention.

** And yet again by Ana in the ''DawnOfTheDead'' remake.
*** Her significant other as well...

** And said news bulletins finish each others' sentences, all talking about the dead coming back from the grave.

A subtrope of FailedASpotCheck.

** Well, to be perfectly accurate, since the story is [[FramedNarrative framed]] as the main character's journal, he not only notes the news reports, but considers them important enough to record. However, it still serves about the same narrative purpose of having the unfolding ZombieAppocalypse set up for the reader while the characters ignore it, since he treats fears about TheVirus dismissively.

* In a season 3 episode of Heroes, Hiro and Ando are trying to figure out why they have been sent to protect a baby, rather than the adult with the same name that they thought they were sent to protect. While they argue over possible explanations, the baby keeps turning on the TV...which is showing news reports of the adult they thought they were being sent to protect, wearing a suicide-bomber vest, being arrested outside the U.S. Capitol building. Hiro and Ando ignore the TV except to turn it off in annoyance every time the baby turns it on, until they finally unplug the TV in frustration. [[spoiler: Then the baby turns the TV on yet again with his powers, and Hiro and Ando switch to enthusing about the baby having a mutant power, still ignoring the news reports on the TV until the baby's mother comes home and tells them about it]].

** And said news bulletins finish each others' sentences, all talking about the dead coming back from the grave.
*** He does get the point, but then gets distracted by Ed, who points out that there's a zombie in the backyard.

[[AC:VideoGames]]
* Averted with ''Land of the Dead: Road to Fiddler's Green'' as the protagonists actually pays attention in one of the early cut scenes. But in other parts of the game you can either ignore or listen/watch the incoming news reports through out the game.

** This is extremely ironic, as the OrsonWelles' 1938 radio adaptation of the story caused a panic when people heard it on the radio and paid ''too much'' attention.

* Averted with ''Land of the Dead: Road to Fiddler's Green'' as the protagonists actually pays attention in one of the early cut scenes. But in other parts of the game you can either ignore or listen/watch the incoming news reports through out the game.

* Seriously, how often are you watching CSPAN or CNN or even the local news when you could be glutting yourself on {{Anime}} or doing an ArchiveBinge on a newfound Webcomic, or even [[TVTropesWillRuinYourLife surfing this very site]]?
** By way of experiment, I just went over to my TV and flipped through my news channels. MSNBC had an interview with the actors of ''ThisIsSpinalTap'', ''Fox News'' had Bill O'Reilly reading letters from people who really seemed to like disparaging Europe, CNBC was doing a report on how awesome the Norwegian Queen cruise ship is, CSPAN had a tape of an angry representative pointing to charts with large numbers on it, HLN had Nancy Grace finishing up a report on a [[MissingWhiteWomanSyndrome missing girl]], my local news had a story about YetAnotherBabyPanda (or tiger in this case) and CNN was at commercial for the Snuggie. Maybe it's just because I caught it at the bottom of the hour, but still, unless that missing woman was Sarah Connor, we should be safe until the next news cycle.
*** Nancy Grace ''finishing'' a report on a missing girl? You're kidding, right? She's been following the same damn story on Caylee Anthony since ''last July''.
** [[TheVirus Swine Flu]] anyone??, I changed the channel like 12 times.
** This editor generally does have the news on when she's in the living rom, but she hasn't actually ''watched'' it since the General Election hype died down. All it ever seems to show normally is Afghanistan deaths, football, stock markets, football, the NHS, football, rugby, football...
*** Compared to the U.S. news networks, Brit/Euro networks are fairly tame.
* In ''{{Apollo 13}}'', Ken Mattingly turns off his television just as the "Special Report" graphic appears. He goes to bed and misses the report on how the space mission is in danger.
* In ''{{Mad Men}}'' episode 3-12, "The Grown-Ups", Harry and Ken are chatting about work, and Ken asks Harry to turn the sound down on the TV. Then the CBS News bulletins about the Kennedy assassination start popping up on the screen, but Harry and Ken don't notice until other Sterling Cooper employees barge into their office to watch the TV.
** Duck turns off the TV in his hotel room on the first report that the president has been "wounded" in order to have sex with [[spoiler:Peggy]]. Afterwards, he mentions that before she came in there was something on the news that's been on his mind, and he turns it back on just in time for the famous confirmation by Walter Cronkite ("From Dallas, Texas, the flash, apparently official..."). [[AvertedTrope On the other hand]], Betty is watching when Jack Ruby kills Lee Harvey Oswald live on camera.
* Minor example in ''{{Cheers}}'': when Lilith announces she's leaving Frasier, the latter threatens to jump off the building above the bar. Meanwhile in said bar, the gang is obliviously watching TV with Norm channel surfing and happening to glance a report about "some guy threatening to jump off a building". An extremely agitated Cliff then shouts at Norm to go back...to an episode of ''Quincy''. Only ''then'' does Sam ask to change to the "jumper" and they realize who it is.
* In a parody, the lads on ''TheYoungOnes'' actually ''did'' watch a news flash about a police siege, but they never noticed that it was happening at their own house. Even when it concludes ''inside'' their house.
* In ''FrightNight'', Charlie and his mother are busy conversing when a news report about a murder plays on the TV. While never explicitly stated as such, the victim was presumably killed by the vampire next door.

* On ''HowIMetYourMother'', the characters turn on Robin's morning talk show but get sidetracked by their conversation and fail to notice her putting out a fire, resuscitating a man after a heart attack and delivering a baby, all on camera.