Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
¶ … 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...
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…
References:
Baker, William F., and George Dessart. Down the tube: An inside account of the failure of American television. New York: Basic Books, 1998
Champlin, D. & Knoedler, J. (2002). "Operating in the public interest or in the pursuit of private profits? News in the age of media consolidation." Journal of Economic Issues, 36(2) 459.
Croteau, David, and William Hoynes. (2001). The business of media: Corporate media and the public interest. Thousand Oaks, California: Pine Forge Press, 2001
Sparrow, Bartholomew H. (1999). Uncertain guardians. Baltimore: Baltimore: The Johns
New Media What are the key challenges faced by public relations practitioners today in relation to the use of new media? Social media has transformed the way in which companies conduct businesses and market themselves. Traditional media strategies such as news releases and media kits have become outmoded, falling out of favor and replaced by strategies such as Facebook, Twitter, and blogs (Waters, Tindall and Morton 2010). This paper begins with an
New Media and Politics With the passage of time, the world has become a global village. Media has played a significant role in reducing communication gaps and barriers between people all across the globe. The emergence of new media technologies has not only affected people all across the globe but also the conventional medium being used for communication thus further diversifying its role. The increasing span of media and its role
New Media Q’s 1 I am a techno-optimist when it comes to some types of social media—such as YouTube, which is a great way to share informational videos on topics that are not covered by mainstream media. I am less fond of Facebook and Twitter and so would regard myself as a techno-pessimist when it comes to these forms of social media, as they tend to be more of a platform for
Media & Public Opinion There are many people that might think or even assert that the media plays a passive role in reporting the news and that there is not a causal link between what is depicted or reported in the media and what is then seen and witnessed within the press and other media spheres. However, this cannot be further from the truth. This is not to say that everyone
This correlates well with the authors' earlier indication from existing surveys, that a large amount of voters made decisions to vote for or against a candidate on the strength of information found online. The authors also found that more informal means of information dissemination, such as blogs and YouTube, were very effective in terms of winning support for rallies. The main reason for this is the increasing access of the
Communications New Media Care2 -- Social Network Tool Care2 was started by Randy Paynter in 1998 however it was a dream that he developed when he was a young adolescent (Paynter). He was traveling in South America with his father studying environmental issues and realized that there was a great imbalance in society in regards to how people treat the planet as well as how people treat each other. Paynter desperately wanted