What's News with You?
More than once I have been accused of being a current affairs dunce when I suggested that passing on the nightly news might improve a person’s mental health.
Supposedly, the news we watch and read is about real life. It’s puffed up to be the truth, just the facts. We’re supposed to be more informed as a result of our exposure to it. But then I ask, what’s the definition of news? What do we need to know?
For example, the news recently has been spiced with stories about teenage girls skipping town with adult male lovers. Despite the angst of those directly involved, especially the girls’ parents, I wonder what purpose it serves the viewing community to showcase stories like these.
Why are these stories news? What social value did airing these stories contribute? Granted, it’s a plus if media exposure brings reunions and happy endings, but I fear the price for that is cluttering the airwaves with a circus full of tabloid fodder.
Do you ever wonder what stories don’t make the news because they don’t fit how our news appetites have been conditioned? Death, violence, crime, scandal, and gossip make news. Stories lacking blood-chilling drama or celebrity— or are too mystical for “just the facts”—don’t make news. Here are some examples:
News: Teenage boy is killed when the van he is driving blows a tire causing a fatal roll-over—and ties up traffic for hours.
Not News: Teenage boy dies quietly of kidney failure in a hospital.
News: Unemployed man robs convenience store and flees into local neighborhood, scaring everyone on Pleasant Street.
Not news: Man with Ph.D. is laid off from his job and doesn’t kill or hurt anybody. He’s judged overqualified for most jobs and is unemployed for 6 months.
News: Car crash kills three on Oregon highway.
Not news: Medical patient flatlines during surgery, is revived, and later tells skeptical doctors that he saw a world of light and is now convinced there is no death.
News: Taxi driver brutally murdered in his cab.
Not News: Grieving widow is startled to see her late husband standing in the hallway smiling peacefully at her.
News: Threat of terrorism heightens security at Portland International Airport.
Not News: Threat of chronic loneliness heightens despair level for thousands of local residents.
News: Teenage girl runs away to play with older man in a love tryst.
Not News: Teenage girl runs away from communicating with her parents because they don’t pay attention to who she really is.
The more I experience life, the more I see the news as less about real life and more about factual titillation? The way I see it, the theme song for many news broadcasts should be “Let Me Entertain You.”
posted by Creativity On! at 10:42 PM
1 Comments:
Hi,
Great Question!
I took a 3 year hiatus from the news considered fit for public consumption, and, as a result, learned to think for myself. Network news can be addicting, mesmerizing a society into thinking that it's receiving information necessary to maintain a responsible citizenry. Unfortunately, the news is nothing less than a series of choices made by a select few to feed to the many. And most often those stories effectively feed our fears and inspire us to buy the products that can ease those fears--over the counter drugs, germ killing agents, the right life insurance, and vitamin-enriched cereals to name just a few.
These days, I find myself wanting to hear more about breakthrough thinking and movement towards highlighting human potential. What's News To Me are the people and organizations going beyond the status quo and blasting through limiting beliefs and helping us to live in higher states of awareness and elevated levels of collaboration and creativity.
I think a public energized by its possibilities instead of stricken by its fears of each other and the world around us creates a much healthier foundation for a proactive society. -Stephanie
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