Given that sensational stories are more probable to get attention than others, I am thinking that it is worth talking about where one can get an idea of what the world at large is really like, and what is really happening in it.
For example, there have been a rash of (admittedly horrible) reports of late. Reports of child rape and murder, people barbequing kittens and all around mayhem (To name a few things that have surfaced just on this board ). However, if you look at the Bureau of Justice statistics, violent crime seems to be trending pretty seriously downward as of around 1993. Admittedly, the graph on that page is only up to 1998, but further in the site (here) the claim is made that this trend continues.
So, all of that being said, can it not be argued that the medial at large is pretty much helping to create a climate of fear that is not only not necessary, but also patently false? Or to put in more bluntly, someone (either the media or the statisticians) are lying to me.
No one is lying. The media reports real crimes. They just spend more time reporting more sensational crimes.
This isn’t done to create a climate of fear (although that may be the result) but rather in oder to get higher ratings and make more money.
In concert with the child abduction stories, I’ve heard multiple examples of news analysis pointing out that such incidents do not appear to be increasing in incidence overall.
Sensational crimes are always going to be reported, with, one hopes, continued attention to not spooking people unnecessarily. And without unnecessary qualifiers:
“Several kittens were strangled, set afire, and used in a Flaming Badminton tournament in Modesto, CA today.
On the other hand, children around the country played gently with their kittens today, and a Department of Justice spokesman reported no national upsurge in in Flaming Kitten Badminton.”
I think it’s misguided to sputter and fume against The Mediatm (not to imply that the OP was doing that) considering that in a sense we are the media. Paper sales, website hits, and television ratings determine what stories are sensationalized and blown out of proportion. Of course reporters, editors, etc. have a duty to report the news responsibly, but they can’t help certain economic realities, like the cost of publishing a newspaper or producing a television show. I am consistently disappointed in Americans, not the American media, for slurping up sensationalized news like pudding. The JonBenet Ramsey case and the O.J. Simpson trial are recent examples.
As evidence that the media is doing its job, we in America have seen our Constitution in some major action over the last five years. Our president was impeached, the Supreme Court had to rule on a dispute that effectively decided a presidential election, and now this terrorism thing. If you cared to know what was going on with any of these issues, the information was available. No one in a position of ignorance on any of those issues could use the excuse that the media failed them in any way. The media informed the hell out of us in each and every one of those cases.
The problem may be that the media does its job and then some, by raking in the profits with info-tainment and using them to keep its hard news operation afloat.
i think you have to accept that it is IMPOSSIBLE to get an accurate idea of what is really going on. there is too much happening and with the media going for ratings you can see what they think appeals to the largest audience.
i prefer magazines. The Economist, The Humanist, Scientific American
Frontline on PBS is good.
have you noticed that we haven’t been told how many Americans die every day? 5,500 per day, 2,000,000 since 9/11/1. changes the perspective a bit. cars are far more dangerous than terrorists.
Dal Timgar
Probably, but the damage caused by the cars is spread out over the entire nation, and doesn’t typically result in the spectacular destruction of two 110-story buildings.
In any event, the very word “news” shares a root with “novelty” and events that are unusual naturally get more coverage.
TV Reporter 1: 10,000 planes landed safely today.
TV Reporter 2: We have exclusive video of a 747 slamming into a Nun convention.
Which is more likely to hold your interest?