Why is it important to read the news?

I was ever so slightly shocked to hear that a few of my friends hadn't heard about the riots in London or about poor little Lieby Kletzky. I engaged in a (heated) discussion last week about the Israel/ Palestine question, and I discovered that my friend did not realize that Palestine does not have a state that is recognized by the UN. (It's considered The Occupied Territories) I asked her what she thought of the reports of Israel violating the terms of the Geneva Convention during their 2008 conflict with Gaza. "I don't follow politics," she said.

"That's not politics," I replied, completely scandalized. "That's news." And the common man (or woman) needs to know what it is, especially on controversial issues like Israel/ Palestine or the debt ceiling. If you don't know what the deal is with the national budget, how can you have an informed opinion?

Our political system doesn't work unless we have an educated public. Our political leaders shape their policies to reflect the preferences of their constituents (at least, ideally they do).  If more people understood, say, Islam and the true (nonexistent) role of Shariah in American politics, I highly doubt we'd be seeing these kinds of emotional protests over building a mosque in New York City.  Of course, when I say "news" in this context, I mean real news and not Glen Beck.