I have heard a lot of criticisms of the news in my life. I have issued some complaints as well, justified or not. I have heard the opposing complaints that the news is too negative and that a lot of the news is fluff pieces. The natural problem is that most positive news is fluff.
In my mind, this is a big deal because people are influenced by journalists. If something or someone gets a lot of media attention, most people get the hint that this person or thing is important. If major issues are framed in a certain way in the media, people will look at those issues through that perspective, regardless as to their individual positions on the topic.
I have many times complained that celebrities' love lives should not count as news. My mom once told me that when she was growing up in a family with three girls, she did not believe anyone actually watched the sports report at the end of the nightly news. I have often made fun of what qualifies as front page news in small town newspapers, such as a story about flu vaccinations that had been offered the previous day. Should any, or perhaps all, of these count as real news?
Should there be a standard for what counts as news? If the standard is only to report those stories that impact most listeners, this will eliminate celebrity news and sports. It will also eliminate nearly all international news that is not economic.
If the standard for what counts as news is market driven, specifically what people are the most interested in, there is a real possibility that news is just whatever can garner the most provocative headline, pictures, or video. This is not something that I am comfortable with.
A final issue is objectivity. Should real news have no slant? Is there a threshold where something is mere propaganda with no news value, or can a television commercial substitute for the news?
The question I have for you all today is what should count as news. Should it be defined as what impacts the most people? Should it just be whatever the people want to hear about? Is it even possible to define? Is everything news?
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4 comments:
I can't speak for the past, but in our world today where you have internet and tv 24hrs a day 7 days a week-- I think everything is news. It's up to us to decide what news we prefer, so I like that there are entertainment news shows and business and market news shows. To accomodate the "fluff" pieces here in the Wabash Valley the 5 o'clock news on one channel only does "happy" stories. They save the who got shot and who stole what for 6 o'clock news. They specifically market saying "you want to hear something good." The news here also shows what the market is doing...hogs up 3, cattle down 2, corn and beans at...
I was shocked when I moved and that was not a part of my nightly news! :) Doesn't EVERYONE want to hear how the market is doing?! :)
I don't consider celebrity love life news but unfortuately, people are interested and it does sell better than real news sometimes.
People love to hate news and we want to keep it that way. If the news was right, then we couldn't complain about the dimwit anchor.
Honestly, I don't watch the TV news anymore. I found myself saying, "I need to know this because...?" and they could never answer me. I just wait for king of queens to come on.
Part of the point of this is that while I am annoyed by a lot of celebrity news, I probably shouldn't be. Some of the non-news I like is no better than what I diss.
Also, I have to admit that even though it may not have been valid news, I did keep up with the "Paris Hilton goes to jail" stories.
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