Riddle me this

[SteveDallas]

I watch practically no TV, you understand. What I do watch is Tivo'ed, and other than that it's mostly DVDs. I certainly do not watch the news on TV.

So all of last week, I was down at my parents' house in NC, and they do watch TV news, mostly the local news & some Fox News. I therefore learned things I did not know before. Specifically, I learned that a young lady recently disappeared in Aruba and that every ablebodied adult in the Western Hemisphere has been mobilized to find her. Or at least, that's the impression I get from the news.

Could somebody explain to me why this story, which seems to me to be personally tragic to the woman's family and friends, but to be of no particular exceptional newsworthiness, has dominated the news for days and days on end?

[lookout123]

she was blond and blue. she is now missing. "let's see if we can get big rating by capitalizing a tragedy" takes over. what passes as journalism today is nauseating.

[Undertoad]

I watch practically nothing BUT TV news as background.

News producers have found that they need to fill 24 hours with information that is cheap to produce and compelling enough to keep interest. This is also true because it's hard to follow important REAL news - that takes people with some smarts, and getting it wrong is bad.

At some point they started to realize that some stories are compelling to people because of their soap-opera-like nature. These stories have a "story arc" with drama, good guys and bad guys, twists and turns. It doesn't hurt that the culture is hungering for more reality, as the popularity of reality shows indicates. These news stories compete with reality shows for public interest and "water cooler time".

And if you're 100% wrong, it doesn't matter. Several "news" analysts and hosts took the usual tack with Jennifer Wilbanks, painting the fiancee as the bad guy. It appears there is no penalty for such bad behavior. Furthermore, the shows that scream how horrible the drama is and take the harshest tone and spin up the soap opera are getting higher ratings.

The worst such offender is Nancy Grace; I don't think there's anyone on TV who disgusts me more, and it appears she is in line to take over the 9pm CNN slot when Larry King inevitably becomes too infirm to hold up his suspenders.

[Troubleshooter]

There's a writing pyramid that I picked up in an english class that seems to apply even more broadly than she realized. It covers three standards to writing, to what you are trying to appeal. In order of increasing difficulty are pathos, ethos, and logos.

logos

^

/-\

/---\

/ethos\

/-------\

/---------\

/---pathos--\

---------------

It's pretty obvious which each applies to; pathos to emotion, ethos to character or personality, and logos to reason. You can see why real news, meaning information with which to reach a reasoned conclusion, is not good business.

[headsplice]

I don't watch the news either. I read voraciously, though.
I can understand the mobilization of Aruba, most of their economy is based on pretty, blond-haired girls, or their families (== bling!).
However, for the infotainment stations to report it as if it were the most important thing in the world is loathsome, but not unexpected. Unfortunately, I'm starting to see it (hear it, whatever) on Air America, and it is really irritating.

[Hobbs]

News outlets jumped-the-shark decades ago and went from informative to ratings whores. It's human nature to want to see bad news. It allows us to say, "jeez, that's terrible. I'm sure glad that's not me." The news agencies (and not just TV news but internet news outlests as well) know this and are exploiting this pretty good. No one wants to tune in to hear or see good news. It's like a traffic accedent, you can't pass it by without having to slow down and gawk. There is also a desire to hang on every bad news item in the world of terrorism/ant-terrorism/Iraq/blah blah blah (thank-you post-9-11 world). And the reason why the young lady in Aruba is getting so much press time is becuase she is very young, very blonde, and very white. The press has ample opportunities to snap some heartbreaking family pictures. "Wow, that's sad. Glad that's not me."

Undertoad hit it right on, too. Everyone is in for the 15 minutes of fame/reality TV stuff. No incentive to do good because everyone who is a knucklehead who the press gives any amount if airtime gets some sort of book deal in the end. This Jennifer Wilbanks, as much of a chowder-head she was, has been rewarded by a "Tell-all" book deal. I'm sure she has an agent of sorts by now as well. Grrrrrrr!

[mrnoodle]

I detest the current state of journalism as well. It's a product being made for profit, just like anything you buy at the store. News organizations want you watching and listening so they can tell their advertisers how big their market share is. Furthermore, "The Media" are their own political party, massaging stories and weighting polls to give their candidate an edge.

I think that it's more of a reflection on our society, though. If we didn't have such a voracious appetite for garbage, it wouldn't be made in such quantities. Jennifer Wilbanks is getting a book deal ONLY because X million people are stupid enough to buy a copy.

[BigV]

Originally Posted by mrnoodle

I detest the current state of journalism as well. It's a product being made for profit, just like anything you buy at the store. News organizations want you watching and listening so they can tell their advertisers how big their market share is. Furthermore, "The Media" are their own political party, massaging stories and weighting polls to give their candidate an edge.

I think that it's more of a reflection on our society, though. If we didn't have such a voracious appetite for garbage, it wouldn't be made in such quantities. Jennifer Wilbanks is getting a book deal ONLY because X million people are stupid enough to buy a copy.

Originally Posted by mrnoodle

I thought this story was uber cool.

Briefly, a young Ethiopian girl who was being abused by men who were trying to force her into marriage was saved by lions. They chased off the bad guys and stood guard over the girl until help came, then melted back into the forest. Or whatever flora Ethiopia has.

That's just friggin sweet.

Will the real mrnoodle please stand up?

Boo, stupid modern journalism. I detest it. Oh, looky, a LION!!

Even smart guys like you are vulnerable to this. You stuck with the hook of the story long enough to read most of it, and thereby fulfilled the story producer's goal, your eyeballs on his page.

Doesn't seem like news to me though. More like filler. But it gets called news so you'll come to the story with those expectations and if the story is short enough and prurient enough, maybe the momentum will carry you through the next commercial break.

[BigV]

Here are three posts about this subject. I am really exercised about this. It would be nice to move about in today's society without this armor of cynicism regarding the media, BUT, I just don't see how. It would be like taking a jog on the freeway. You'd be crushed, and forgotten.

Post 1: Somebody, mrnoodle actually, casually mentioned a leftwing media conspiracy. That started it. This was my response. Although I began talking the silliness of the "conspiracy", I was really hacked about the hipocrisy in the news.

So Clodfobble called me on it. Post 2: She took me to task for taking out of context some remarks in a FOXNews story. That's fair, she was, after all, right. I did do that. But that highlights the core issue here, and that is context. Much of this crap-ola we're subjected to in the news media is presented as though it were news, and it's not. A point SteveDallas is trying to recocile. Good luck with that, by the way.

Here was my response to Clodfobble's question/accusation.

Post 3: I took the opportunity to talk about the difference between "news" and "infotainment". I could be cerebral and aim for "logos" again, but I'm too tired. I'll settle for "pathos". In this case it's the same. I am emotionally affected (nauseated and infuriated) by the truth of the matter: They lie, and do so with impugnity.

I'll just go throw up now.

ps: I guess it's poor form to quote oneself so freely, since it's done so infrequently here. I'll bear the cost, though, because this thread is a better match than the Iraq thread for the spirit of these posts.

[BigV]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

--snip--News producers have found that they need to fill 24 hours with information that is cheap to produce and compelling enough to keep interest. This is also true because it's hard to follow important REAL news - that takes people with some smarts, and getting it wrong is bad.
--snip

I wish I could have said that. Very nice UT. :Bullseye: (no smilie, rats).

[mrnoodle]

Originally Posted by BigV

Will the real mrnoodle please stand up?

Boo, stupid modern journalism. I detest it. Oh, looky, a LION!!

You off your meds? There is no similarity between that story and the kind of story that's played incessantly for months on end for ratings. I'm allowed to think EVENTS are nifty without being accused of hypocrisy, aren't I?

[BigV]

Yes, certainly. Nifty is, by definition, nifty. I like cool stories too. But the two stories do share a certain "arc". Both were called news. Girl is missing. One is found, one is not. Both in countries far from where I live.

If anything, the Aruba story should rate the same level of coverage as the Ethiopian story.

I was not calling you a hypocrite, sorry. I was pointing out the fact that these things happen and deserve some attention. But the contrast shows the absurdity of the stories that are over the top. And for nothin! That "runaway bride"? It's filler if it's anything. You put it very well when you said it was a "nifty event". SD started talking about media madness and I was using a comparative example. Sorry. Here:

[mrnoodle]

s'all good.

One other point, though. I don't really think there is a leftwing "conspiracy" in the media. Nothing conspiratorial about it -- they are completely open about their politics. That's one reason why Fox looks so extremely right-wing, because they don't follow the party line. For every truly critical appraisal of a Democratic candidate (and I'm being generous here, because I don't remember any), there are dozens about the Republican du jour. It's just plain old bias.

[Happy Monkey]

Missing people are not national news. We'd need 100 more 24 hour channels if there was equivalent coverage for everyone on the side of a milk carton. Instead, they just pick a random missing person story when they are feeling lazy and give it 24 hour coverage.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by mrnoodle

For every truly critical appraisal of a Democratic candidate (and I'm being generous here, because I don't remember any),

You don't remember Al Gore?