Opinions of News Media

¶ … Media: An Exercise in Sensationalism

In modern society, the media contributes little more than sensationalism entertainment rather than serious coverage of current and relevant news affairs. Corporate mergers and consolidations of broadcasting agencies have resulted in a need to offer media coverage that will attract ratings and boost profits rather than assure the well being and best interests of the public. Consumers are no longer informed, but rather sensationalized as a result of the news media. The news media tends to be biased and subjective, offering limited views on important political and international phenomena, thus depriving consumers of their right to fair and unbiased coverage. These ideas are explored more below.

Though consumers now have more media coverage available than at any point in the past, the overall welfare of consumers has not benefited from media coverage in recent years. The news media is charged with providing consumers unbiased information that should help consumers make both conscious and conscientious decisions regarding their lives and the daily goings on in the world (Champlin & Knoedler, 2002). Yet a majority of news broadcast and media coverage today is in fact biased in nature and more oriented toward sensationalism than unbiased reporting. Broadcast stations are supposedly licensed to operate in the best interests of the public, however largely news media at best provides information for entertainment value only. In fact originally the emphasis of news media was to be on the supplying and meeting the demands and needs of the public as opposed to broadcast stations or advertisers (Croteau & Hoynes, 2001). However, in recent years the news media has become largely a vessel of entertainment, filled with preconceived notions, biased opinions and largely useless entertainment value sensationalism. Rather than report on the facts and well rounded international events, broadcast agencies tend to focus on limited affairs. Fox news is a perfect example of a broadcast agent well-known for its sensationalist tactics and biased news media coverage. The news offered consumers on this network is best described as entertainment rather than true reporting.

Another example of how the news media coverage has failed people is with regard to one sided or limited coverage instead of coverage of the news as a whole. Take for example the coverage of the O.J. Simpson trial in 1995, when CNN offered live coverage of the trial but did not cover other important news stories including whether or not North Korea was opening nuclear inspections to outside authorities (Sparrow, 1999; Champlin & Knoedler, 2002). Coverage of the news during the Clinton administration focused largely on the Monica affair rather than other important international affairs in the news (Champlin & Knoedler, 2002). The broadcast agencies in modern society available tend to focus on one or two issues or events rather than focus on the broader impact of events and happenings going on around the world. This results in a narrow perspective and limits the information available to consumers about important issues in the world.

The pursuit of profits and increasing mergers between news companies has resulted in inadequate media coverage. According to Croteau and Hoynes (2001) increasingly news media agents are pursuing profits by working together, but the result is an edging out of ideas and discussion of topics and subjects that might be more valuable to the public than sensationalism. News divisions in recent years are merely the product of capitalist society, having become "just another profit center for conglomerate parents" that are required to yield profit ratios (Champlin & Knoedler, 2002). A trend toward media "concentration" is also occurring where most of the mass media in the country is dominated by a few large corporations including AOL-Time Warner, Disney (ABC), Viacom (CBS) and NewsCorp (Fox News Channel) (Champlin & Knoedler, 2002). Because the power of coverage is limited to a few big mega corporations, (such as AOL Time Warner which regulates CNN), the content more and more is becoming shaped by advertisers and other agents looking to boost profits rather than really offer the public a fair portrait of the news. News for profit requires that ratings be obtained (Champlin & Knoedler, 2002) thus the quality of news has decreased and the entertainment and sensationalist aspects of news coverage have increased significantly in recent years.