JonBenet Ramsey Coverage
(Note: I'm not going to continue the middle east crisis post.)
As people in the U.S. know, the media has been covering, for the past two weeks or so, the arrest of John Mark Karr, a man who confessed to the killing of JonBenet Ramsey. They have not only been covering it, they have been obsessively covering it. We know that he may have been seeking gender reassignment surgery, we know that he sat in buissness class on the plane ride to the U.S. while dining on champagne. We know that he will be tried on child porn charges instead of the Ramsey case because he was not at the crime scene.
While this may seem unimportant, after all, it has ceased to be in the media spotlight, it is important in that it shows how the media assigns importance to stories.
Take for example the Michal Jackson story, the media covered it to what can be argued to be a ridiculous degree. We knew that Michale Jackson arrived at the court house late one day wearing his pajamas. for instance.
These stories and others should raise important questions about the media. What is the role of Media in our culture. Is it currently used to provide for a more educated citizenry?
The media's focus on stories that have little or no news value is of concern as, traditionaly, the media's responisblilty to act as a watchdog agianst wrongdoing of all kind's. The diversion of time to stories such as celeberty scandals and other pieces of so called "infotainment"(news stories that are soft news), should be of concern as it diverts attention from important events and important stories that should be reported on.
What should the news media be reporting on? How about instead of say "Paula Zahn Now" on CNN, how about they instead have a show devoted to analysis of Global Hotspots, such as the Middle East. And how about instead of reporting about things that have little bearing on the public interest, how about they instead devote more time to stories that have bearing on the public interest.
I would say that if the media were to do this, this could allow for a better informed public that would be knowledable about their government and the world around them.
(Note: I'm not going to continue the middle east crisis post.)
As people in the U.S. know, the media has been covering, for the past two weeks or so, the arrest of John Mark Karr, a man who confessed to the killing of JonBenet Ramsey. They have not only been covering it, they have been obsessively covering it. We know that he may have been seeking gender reassignment surgery, we know that he sat in buissness class on the plane ride to the U.S. while dining on champagne. We know that he will be tried on child porn charges instead of the Ramsey case because he was not at the crime scene.
While this may seem unimportant, after all, it has ceased to be in the media spotlight, it is important in that it shows how the media assigns importance to stories.
Take for example the Michal Jackson story, the media covered it to what can be argued to be a ridiculous degree. We knew that Michale Jackson arrived at the court house late one day wearing his pajamas. for instance.
These stories and others should raise important questions about the media. What is the role of Media in our culture. Is it currently used to provide for a more educated citizenry?
The media's focus on stories that have little or no news value is of concern as, traditionaly, the media's responisblilty to act as a watchdog agianst wrongdoing of all kind's. The diversion of time to stories such as celeberty scandals and other pieces of so called "infotainment"(news stories that are soft news), should be of concern as it diverts attention from important events and important stories that should be reported on.
What should the news media be reporting on? How about instead of say "Paula Zahn Now" on CNN, how about they instead have a show devoted to analysis of Global Hotspots, such as the Middle East. And how about instead of reporting about things that have little bearing on the public interest, how about they instead devote more time to stories that have bearing on the public interest.
I would say that if the media were to do this, this could allow for a better informed public that would be knowledable about their government and the world around them.
posted by Mal Renyolds | 8:18 PM
1 Comments:
Stop watching CNN or even worse Fox and watch proper news. BBC is somewhat better but us bloggers make the only "real" news these days
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