Weekends are not very newsy on public radio, it’s true. But the weekday NPR stream is Morning Edition, which is basic news, 1A, which is more in-depth about current events with an attempt to be unbiased about it. Admittedly, they also do an hour of Fresh Air, but I would say the rest counts as news. And my station often breaks in if there’s something major going on.
I also think a lot of the things that channels like CNN put up as breaking news just aren’t. Even when they seem like they are.
I guess also because I grew up in the pre-CNN era, I don’t feel I need to know everything the second it happens. I mean it can be interesting, but if I don’t find out about it until 12 hours later, it’s not a big deal a good 90% of the time.