Do the media provide viewers with the information they want or the information they need?
It seems as if the news networks are currently getting confused between reporting actual facts and ground breaking news from entertainment frivolity and salacious gossip. I feel as if more and more networks are concentrating on generating viewership and profits over reporting on substantial issues that may not be as entertaining, due to the fact that it is not dribbled with controversy or biases.
I understand that many news stations have to segment their audiences by interests and target specific demographics to help differentiate themselves from other networks in order to generate profits through advertising, but how far will they go to impose their biases on the general public?
In my opinion, the viewing public watch the news to be educated on current events and updated on political, social, and economic issues. Therefore, it would be contradictory for networks to constantly bombard an audience with programs that are directed towards a certain bias as opposed to stating the facts in a neutral standpoint, so that the viewer may the asses the information him or herself.
It seems as if the news networks are currently getting confused between reporting actual facts and ground breaking news from entertainment frivolity and salacious gossip. I feel as if more and more networks are concentrating on generating viewership and profits over reporting on substantial issues that may not be as entertaining, due to the fact that it is not dribbled with controversy or biases.
I understand that many news stations have to segment their audiences by interests and target specific demographics to help differentiate themselves from other networks in order to generate profits through advertising, but how far will they go to impose their biases on the general public?
In my opinion, the viewing public watch the news to be educated on current events and updated on political, social, and economic issues. Therefore, it would be contradictory for networks to constantly bombard an audience with programs that are directed towards a certain bias as opposed to stating the facts in a neutral standpoint, so that the viewer may the asses the information him or herself.
1 comment:
Francis -
I really like the basic idea your blog will focus around. But here's the thing. All of these news networks are a business. Their job is to make money, provide jobs, and pay their employees handsomely so they can provide a high quality of living for themselves and their families.
Plenty of people tune in for gossip stories and entertainment features. CNN, MSNBC and Fox News ratings skyrocketed when covering the Heath Ledger death, for example. As tragic as that was, all the news networks made a lot of money covering it.
So do these businesses have a public responsibility to provide unbiased news and only news? What falls under news? Just politics? Is gossip/celebrity news not news?
I look forward to reading your blog throughout the semester and hope to hear answers to all these questions :)
- Jack
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