No News Is New News
“A quagmire of stale ‘current’ events, prepackaged for you convenience, story at eleven.” It seems that lately the more you pay attention the news the less you need to; the news has become old.
It is as if the media is running short of news worthy events, one gets the impression that the well has run dry and we are left to mull over our rations of information. The simulating and thought inspiring articles of the past have given way to gossip that now masquerades as news. The issues that will impact the very future of mankind have taken a distant second to the repetition of the “whether Brad cheated on Jennifer.” While infidelities of the rich and famous may be of consequence to some, the story it’s self becomes worn and tired.
Even those events that deserve news coverage become stale. During the Asian Tsunami crisis, for example, the story that was so over reported that as soon as the final “death toll” was announced the story began to peter out. Even when the story needed new life breathed into the issues concerning victims and survivors information was revisited to an obscene degree and soon lost impact.
Every story, regardless of how interesting, soon becomes white noise as it is reported to death. This holds true with the tsunami as well, in this scenario the impact of the tragedy is softened though repetition, dulling our senses. In the world of psychology this would be viewed as a coping mechanism, a means of acceptance though constant exposure of a difficult issue. But in reality is has caused a wide scale desensitization. Watching hundreds of bloated bodies wash up on distant shores may motivate you to donate to the victims of this tragedy. Unfortunately, after hearing about the disaster day after day the feelings of humanitarianism turn to feelings of obligation, a feeling of obligation; a feeling that is quickly dismissed.
A possible solution to this increase of moral apathy would be to gain a wider scope of news coverage. This in turn would give more poignancy to issues that deserve the coverage and attention. This break in the nightly repetition would retain the interest of the average viewer by putting emphasis on paying attention to a story in order to get the full story. Persuade the audience to pay attention and learn about the whole story, educate instead of just informing. The spoon-feeding of information to the masses is a waste of time, mainly because information that is too readily available is quickly forgotten.
Perhaps the reason for this tendency to overexpose the news is to dilute the troubles of the world. After watching an hour’s worth of news the audience may contentment in knowing the worries of the world are so limited. They may even be content with their allotment of filler stories sprinkled with the “reports of a disconcerting nature.” This follows the belief that the audience it’s self, has become accustom to its reality served up in one-hour installments on deserted islands.
The truth of the matter is that we are the audience that the media placates; we are those whose news is filtered, strained, and pasteurized for our consumption. But this tactic of watering down of news will not sit well with this audience for long, because people will only watch you beat a dead horse for so long.
Exile
Original_exile@hotmail.com
It is as if the media is running short of news worthy events, one gets the impression that the well has run dry and we are left to mull over our rations of information. The simulating and thought inspiring articles of the past have given way to gossip that now masquerades as news. The issues that will impact the very future of mankind have taken a distant second to the repetition of the “whether Brad cheated on Jennifer.” While infidelities of the rich and famous may be of consequence to some, the story it’s self becomes worn and tired.
Even those events that deserve news coverage become stale. During the Asian Tsunami crisis, for example, the story that was so over reported that as soon as the final “death toll” was announced the story began to peter out. Even when the story needed new life breathed into the issues concerning victims and survivors information was revisited to an obscene degree and soon lost impact.
Every story, regardless of how interesting, soon becomes white noise as it is reported to death. This holds true with the tsunami as well, in this scenario the impact of the tragedy is softened though repetition, dulling our senses. In the world of psychology this would be viewed as a coping mechanism, a means of acceptance though constant exposure of a difficult issue. But in reality is has caused a wide scale desensitization. Watching hundreds of bloated bodies wash up on distant shores may motivate you to donate to the victims of this tragedy. Unfortunately, after hearing about the disaster day after day the feelings of humanitarianism turn to feelings of obligation, a feeling of obligation; a feeling that is quickly dismissed.
A possible solution to this increase of moral apathy would be to gain a wider scope of news coverage. This in turn would give more poignancy to issues that deserve the coverage and attention. This break in the nightly repetition would retain the interest of the average viewer by putting emphasis on paying attention to a story in order to get the full story. Persuade the audience to pay attention and learn about the whole story, educate instead of just informing. The spoon-feeding of information to the masses is a waste of time, mainly because information that is too readily available is quickly forgotten.
Perhaps the reason for this tendency to overexpose the news is to dilute the troubles of the world. After watching an hour’s worth of news the audience may contentment in knowing the worries of the world are so limited. They may even be content with their allotment of filler stories sprinkled with the “reports of a disconcerting nature.” This follows the belief that the audience it’s self, has become accustom to its reality served up in one-hour installments on deserted islands.
The truth of the matter is that we are the audience that the media placates; we are those whose news is filtered, strained, and pasteurized for our consumption. But this tactic of watering down of news will not sit well with this audience for long, because people will only watch you beat a dead horse for so long.
Exile
Original_exile@hotmail.com
posted by exile at
2/08/2005 03:04:00 PM
4 Comments:
The media certainly is running out of news stories. One time, in Toledo (where I'm from), the top story was a puppy stuck in a pipe. I mean, heartbreaking and cute, but is that really all that's going on?
By
Roonie, at Wednesday, February 09, 2005 10:58:00 AM
I agree, unless their plan to rescue the puppy involved using gunpowder to create a makeshift puppy cannon i'm not interested! perhaps they need to just make it so certian channels can report specific kinds of news. of course i'd be tuned to the explosive puppy channel.
By
exile, at Wednesday, February 09, 2005 2:44:00 PM
My parents bought the weekly paper today and i picked it up to find that the whole newspaper was filled with the story about Prince Charles being engaged to Camilla and how she was not going to replace the queen but instead she would become a 'princess'. Ok i supose it was nice of them to inform us about this, BUT did they have to fill the whole paper leaving about 3 articles about gardening?? The media really is running out of news.....
By
Betty, at Friday, February 11, 2005 11:29:00 AM
we're just going to have to take the ignorance is bliss stance and jsut assume that there is nothing more important in the world. it makes one feel pathetically at ease.
By
exile, at Friday, February 11, 2005 12:01:00 PM
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