Pages

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Massive Misdirection

Both the mainstream media and general public seem to have a weird sense of priorities. With all the important and serious issues facing humankind, too often our focus is on minutiae and sensationalism.

Here's a classic example from the website, Think Progress:
The death of Anna Nicole Smith yesterday was a feeding frenzy for the national media, and coverage of the war was drowned out: NBC’s Nightly News devoted 14 seconds to Iraq compared to 3 minutes and 13 seconds to Anna Nicole. CNN referenced Anna Nicole 522% more frequently than it did Iraq. MSNBC was even worse — 708% more references to Anna Nicole than Iraq.

The lop-sided coverage largely ignored many key developments in Iraq, including the sixth downing of a U.S. helicopter in the past three weeks, the allegations that a deputy Iraqi health minister was aiding a Shiite militia in its attacks against U.S. troops, and the death of four Marines.
While I'm sure Ms. Smith's death is an important issue for her family and loved ones, it's not major news for the rest of us. When compared to the ongoing calamities in Iraq or the Sudan (to name but two examples), it shouldn't even register.

Yet, as Think Progress documents, Smith's death dominated the news on Wednesday. On Fox New, there were 112 references to Smith and only 33 to Iraq. The ratio was far worse on MSNBC with a 7 - 1 edge for Smith!

Is it any wonder that far too many Americans are in the dark regarding important societal issues? It's hard to be informed when the news is dominated by the like of Anna Nicole, OJ and Pat Robertson.

2 comments:

  1. Don't we all like the gossip above the truth?

    ReplyDelete
  2. We live in a National Inquirer world.
    So much of the important news of the world is beyond our fathom and makes us realize how powerless we are.
    When a story like Anna Nicole comes along, or we see a dog that has been hit by a car, it seems more personal and touches the emotions in a way that the death of thousands of hapless victims in someone elses war on the other side of the world can't. We are a shallow people, but that's ust the way we are. Dino

    ReplyDelete

Comments are unmoderated, so you can write whatever you want.