Hey guys, I have a question for ya. I haven't lived in this country long enough to know this, so help me out. It seems like every time you turn on the news, there is something dramatic, tragic etc. Has it always been this way b/c the media skews the coverage toward such attention grabbing stories and ingores the good and happy stuff, has this become more prevalent recently for some reason? Don't misunderstand me, I do understand the importance of covering tragic events and I am very sorry for the losses that take place. It's just that the exciting and happy good stories somehow evade the news. I don't believe there are none in this great country. Having lived in a number of other countries, I can't say this is the same way anywhere else... Is it in your blood, smth cultural? I mean even the shows you have - ER and stuff, blood and drama everywhere... Weird. Peace.
"News" is a business - just like any other. The competition is fierce, and the various news organizations MUST cater to the tastes of the public. At this time, that taste tends to run to blood and guts, common gossip, and celebrity coming and goings. Hard news is a hard sell. I do not see any change in the foreseeable future, We don't like to admit it, but we are a shallow people, with a lust for blood.
The advent of the Cable News organizations seem to hastened it. We are a voyeuristic people, the popularity of "reality" TV is a good example. There is nothing "real" in reality shows, but... Cable TV in general has hastened this trend - where once we had 3 or 4 choices, we now have over a hundred. Operators have discovered a dirty little secret - we like blood, gore, gossip, and voyeurism. The news organizations have discovered the same. It also doesn't hurt to constantly wave the flag - one cable news organization actually displays one in the upper left-hand part of the screen 24/7. They also proclaim themselves to be fair and balanced - and the five-minutes of news at the top of the hour is just that. The other 55-minutes of programming is anything but. This flag waving jingoistic, blatantly biased service is killing the competition.
extreme right wing newspaper and TV tycoon Rupert Murdoch rules the English language news business in large parts of the world - and probably invented the slogan `fair and balanced´for FOX News, New York Post and The Sun. http://www.newscorp.com/index2.html
yeah, for unbiased objective reporting i recommend perusing the news sources msfe/wild follows... (LOL) vlad, the fact is good news doesn't make for 'good news' bad news attracts EYEBALLS. (who doesn't slow down to check out the scene of a 6 car pile up?)