Everyone knows that there is way too much negativity in the news these days. It seems like every time the news is on, the anchors are talking about death, crime, poverty, the bad economy, or something unpleasant. The news stations also ‘sensationalize’ nearly every story they report. Every aspect of the news, be it online, on TV, or in print, is oversaturated with unnecessary negativity at the expense of positive or insightful information.
A lot of bad things happen in the world, and it is probably right that people need to know about them, but news stations tend to ‘emotionalize’ their stories. A journalist’s job used to be simply to describe what was happening in the world impartially, but it has now become a job of ‘evaluating’ what is happening in the world, which is only a small step from sensationalizing it (Graham, 1). Not only are there too many negative stories, but the negativity in those stories is also emphasized. Reporters focus on the committers of crimes rather than the victims; they talk about what is wrong with the murderers, the robbers, and the rapists instead of what was right with the people who were injured or lost their lives. News stations now are even competing with entertainment shows for viewers and prime-time TV slots, which they do by emphasizing emotional material instead of just reporting the news. This is obviously not the best focus. News stations’ goals should be to inform viewers about what is going on in the world, not to entertain viewers and play with their emotions. There is just too much negativity in today’s news.
This saturation of negativity also causes a wide range of negative psychological effects, especially on peoples’ moods. One would expect that news regarding war, poverty, and cr...
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...aded with unnecessary negativity, which comes with multiple negative psychological effects. We are drawn towards these negative stories for neurological reasons which may be a result of prehistoric adaptations and natural selection. ‘Sensationalized’ negativity is a real problem in today’s media that is affecting America as a whole in various negative ways.
Works Cited
“Why we love bad news.” PsychologyToday.com. 30 Dec. 2010. 13 Mar. 2014
“Why Negative News Turns Us On.” icfj.org. 2 April 2008. International Center for Journalists. 13 Mar. 2014
Tugend, Alina. “Praise Is Fleeting, but Brickbats We Recall.” The New York Times 23 Mar. 2012: B5
Graham, Davey. “The Psychological Effects of TV News.” Psychology Today 19 Jun. 2012: 1
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In The Influencing Machine, Gladstone argues that the media focuses on putting out news that remotely threatens viewers. In the text she states, “emphasizing bad news is good business…world [seems] more dangerous…actually is.” It is good business considering that it keeps the audience on their toes and makes them think about what is going on. When you visit news sites or look at news stations
The media, including television programming, cartoons, film, the news, as well as literature and magazines, is a very powerful and pervasive medium for expression. It can reach a large number of people and convey ideas, cultural norms, stereotypic roles, power relationships, ethics, and values. Through these messages, the mass media may have a strong influence on individual behavior, views, and values, as well as in shaping national character and culture. Although there is a great potential for the media to have a positive and affirming effect on the public and society at large, there may be important negative consequences when the messages conveyed are harmful, destructive, or violent.
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There are many criminal events that occur every day, however only a few are selected as they are deemed to be newsworthy. Chibnall (1977) claimed that a story is classed as newsworthy if it is dramatized, immediate and involves structured access. ‘The Sun’ could be seen to use all these elements, for example they over emphasize on the violence that occurred and ...
It comes down mainly to everyone taking responsibility for our actions. As I said previously we cannot completely avoid the mass media, nor all of the impacts on our lives, however we can control how much we are exposed to in some points. As a parent there needs to be control of what children can and cannot watch as far as television, movies and limiting the time that it is watched. Parents need to educate themselves on the type of show their child wants to watch, sometimes children or teens are allowed to watch shows parents watch. As adolescents, teens, and young adults we have to take on our own responsibility. As an adolescent and teenager they can do their part by talking to their parents when you feel a show may not be appropriate. We all need to work on turning off the TV, or radios and spend more time in a positive manner. And as a society in all remind ourselves it is just TV, and all of the many advertisements or scenes we see are not the actual solution to problems or life’s solution. With the news watch what is necessary to stay up to date with the daily news, however not to the point that the news controls our thoughts. The media knows what and how to pull the society in so that we feed off of it.
During these difficult economic times sensationalism has become more prevalent in the media. Stories involving sex scandals and child murders have taken over our T.V and internet screens as well as the front pages of our newspapers. The media bias of sensationalism has been used as a sort of escapism for readers. Although it may seem that sensationalism has just started making waves, it has been around for decades. Sensationalism has been influencing viewers and contributing to media bias since the days of the penny press. Sensationalisms long history has been turbulent, self-serving, and influential to today’s reporting practices. With the influence over readers’ sensationalism’s media bias have and will continue to affect media reporting for years to come.
Public journalism has changed much during its existence. Papers are striving to actively involve readers in the news development. It goes beyond telling the news to embrace a broader mission of improving the quality of public life. The American style of journalism is based on objectivity and separates us from the bias found in most European partisan papers. American journalism is becoming too vigilant in being objective that the dedication to investigating stories tends to be missing in the writing. Public journalism works to incorporate concepts from partisan and objective writing to increase the flow of information and improve the quality of public life.
Since the television was invented in 1924, news and current affairs programs have surly become one of our main media sources. With this in mind, reporters and stations alike are able to manipulate their audiences through a variety of techniques, to make them believe a representation of reality as opposed to the true fact. This is evident in the current affairs story “Video Game Violence” and the standard news story “Music Video Ban”. These similar stories both originated from Channel Nine and represent violence in society’s youth today, stating children are at risk if exposed to such material. Through a selection of techniques, the audience is lured into supporting the told story and agreeing with the general attitudes promoted.
How is it that the media can be so affecting to our lives? Why do we have to hear all these awful stories from the media? I think that it should be a new national law that newscasters can only tell good, heart warming stories and leave the bad stuff out of it. I do not believe that any one wants to hear bad news during the day.
According to Mehrotra (2011), media sensationalism is defined as “style of reporting news to public which involves use of fear, anger, excitement and crude thrill undertaken by the media to increase the viewership, ratings and lastly profits”. Moreover, this technique is used for two reasons: first to increase the rate of the viewers, and the second is to persuade the viewer that the solution for the suggested fear will be demonstrated in the news story. (Serani, 2011) .Additionally, the key to the success of sensational based news is in presenting the news in a sensational - fearful anecdote format instead of scientific facts. Thus, the media is promoting inaccurate news as the reports are aired without fact checking and based on sensationalism rather than on accurate facts. Hence, this style of reporting inaccurate news has hazardous effects on ...