Today, while I was browsing The New York Times website, I stumbled upon its 'Most Popular' tab. Under this tab I noticed that the most viewed news story today was titled, "Obama's Rating Falls as Poll Reflects Volatility." This didn't surprise me in the slightest as in any run-up to a presidential election there will be coverage of the President's approval, but what did surprise me was the article that was listed at the number two slot. "Findings: Refining the Formula That Predicts Celebrity Marriages' Doom." This article discusses an intricate formula developed by two scientists that predicts the demise of famous couples' marriages. Although the article is surprisingly interesting, it made me think, "Is this what we as a nation really care about when it comes to news?" We could so easily be entertained by dozens of other media sources. Do we really have to be entertained and kept up to date on the latest gossip by our most accredited news sources too? It seems obvious that we should care about various issues that affect our nation and our communities in a deeper sense than news about celebrity marriage, but often times we just would rather find out how long Beyonce and Jay-Z's marriage will last instead. After all, I didn't read the story about Obama's ratings, I read about the celebrity marriage formula and I don't even have any interest in celebrity news. In my spare time I would much rather watch soft news like The Daily Show or The Colbert Report than watch hard news like CNN. Maybe this is a downfall of our generation and maybe those of us who prefer soft news are the ones causing major news organizations to change their style and misleadingly vamp up the news. What do you think? Is soft news bad and should we fight temptation and just pay attention to hard news? Or isn't it a problem at all?
I think there is a happy medium between the two - you can get your daily dose of celebrity gossip but also make sure you know what is actually going on in the world. I do think this could be part of the reason that today's youth and young adult population is becoming less and less educated on the daily happenings of the government and the world. I'm not completely innocent, however. I would much rather read celebrity gossip news and how long their marriages will last but I also realize it is important that I am educated about the world around me. Like I said, there is a happy medium.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think that is an issue, and it is definitely a prominent downfall of our generation. We go for the easily understandable, the interesting, the most well-portrayed. Can we be blamed though? Take a look at advertising, commercials these day have to have a certain "sex appeal" and that doesn't always mean having a woman half dressed, it can be the promise of high social status, etc. But these advertisements can often blur the actual message, the content, just as shows like "The Colbert Report" and so on take a true event and construe it for the pleasure of an audience. This is a trend throughout everything we do now, something that I see as dangerous yet non-reversible.
ReplyDeleteI actually just had a really interesting discussion about this concept in one of my classes. I definitely agree with Sidney, I think there is a happy medium between the two. When people rely on soft news to get all of their information, it may become an issue. Soft news may not always be the most reliable, due to the fact that it often posses comedy and satire throughout. Therefore, people should definitely turn to hard news for concrete, unbiased truths. However, if individuals are exposed to some form of hard news but view soft news on the side, there is definitely no problem.
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