A few years ago, I quit watching mainstream news. In fact, I go way out of my way to avoid it.
I used to enjoy it. It makes you feel like you're getting informed, and know what's going on in the world.
Today, I wound up seeing the news over a late dinner. The lead-in was a murder. Then there was someone on drugs who was trying to escape a police checkpoint and hit two people with his car. Then a story about gas prices rising, and a look at the consumer shopping season.
And that was enough for me.
You do need to stay current, but you'd do well to stay current primarily in your chief vocation or field of interest. I follow technology-related news and I'll subscribe to some newsletter or check out a forum related my core focus is at the time -- which is sales at the moment.
Being current is good, but not at the expense of being bathed in negativity. If you spend some time studying how the mind and memories work, you'll realize your mind doesn't encode frequency very well; rather, your mind is very likely to remember the dramatic, the sweeping, the highly emotional, the highly dangerous, and so on.
A rare, highly negative event will stick in your mind like glue, adding a little more fear to your step and taking your focus off staying on top of your game.
Skip the mainstream news. Spend the time with the trade journals, magazines, and websites related to your profession and chief interest or two. You'll be much better off for it.