I Don't Have A Catchy Headline, Isn't That The Point?

Every day, John Doe America watches the news and is bombarded with useless crap. It is to the point where the news actually talks about what the news isn’t talking enough about (see the recent coverage on the political talk shows about how “the media” isn’t covering the war in Iraq enough, in a month “the media” will be blowing the war out of proportion). I’m not even sure who qualifies as the news anymore. These shows air on news networks, but they seem to take little responsibility or action to rectify the issues they are so swift to criticize.

One huge problem is the misguided notion that the media is unbiased. As respectable media empires grow, this becomes more and more impossible; the bottom line inevitably dictates the content. It isn’t that the sponsors are literally calling up CNN and saying “Listen, watch what you say about product XYZ,” the problem is that product XYZ won’t pay to be a sponsor on a show that lacks viewers, or a Web site with no hits. So the bias isn’t politically motivated(although, let’s be honest, we all know that FOX News is a freaking hot mess when it comes to political bias), it is catchy headline biased.

Apparently, the war in Iraq isn’t as tantalizing to viewers as six months straight of daily updates on the Britney Spears Crazy Meter. I’d say around 1% of celebrity news that hits the mainstream news is actually worth reporting anywhere other than Entertainment Tonight or OhNoTheyDidnt, but that is a completely different tangent; there are plenty of things, other than celebrities, that the mainstream news jumps on that are a complete waste of time.

The end result of Web hits and Nielsen ratings ruling news content? Ridiculously overblown coverage of mundane happenings that are so sensational, they practically write their own cheesy headlines.

With all of this said, I love the news and the media in general because it is a ridiculously dysfunctional monster that WE have created. I contribute to the monster we call the media not only by providing news sites with dozens of page views a day, but also by working for the beast. I am writing this blog in an effort to vent all of my theories and ideas about current events that my friends and family grow tired of hearing, but I, nonetheless feel are very valid and relevant to modern society.