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Media sensationalism

"Some newspapers [will argue] that without sensation and intrusion they cannot survive." ~ The Economist

What are peoples' views on media sensationalism?

I think it's really unhealthy for society the way tabloid and "middle market" papers exaggerate things. When you get past a massive headline taking up much of the page, and emotive wording designed to make you angry, you often find a reasonable explanation for what's happened near the end of the article. You rarely get a substantial quote from the "other side" in a story or much detailed explanation of the story. From what I've read of Private Eye, it also seems that a lot of articles are secretly written to "plug", for example, a product/company owned by the editors' brother-in-law etc.

Worst of all, sensation sells because as far as I know "quality" papers have a minority of the market and are losing money. Does anyone else think that we, the public, show ourselves to have simple minds and short attention spans by subscribing to this kind of simple, misleading, biased and uninformative journalism? :frown:

Edit: I'd also welcome views on "intrusion" as the quote says, whereby the media, and therefore we the customers, are interested in peoples' private lives rather than much more important things.
(edited 12 years ago)
Original post by Algorithm69
"You forgot the first rule of mass media, Elliot! GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT!"

The papers are simply responding to what the public wants. The papers aren't dictating to us what we must read about. So yes, the sensationalist media industry shows us that our society is full of shallow and vacuous retards who care more about celebrity upskirts and sex scandals than economics and other important things.

Quite depressing when you think about it.


Yep :rolleyes:
It's a worry when people are unable to form opinions on their own, but most of us should be able to read between the lines of an article. Like you say in the OP, when I read a sensationalist headline, I always read the entire article for a proper overview of what happened. Often, quotes in the headline may be taken out of context, so it's important not to judge someone based on what's written about them in the title. But, sensationalism sells, and as long as the media aren't being inaccurate, then it's legal to give biased headlines.

As for intruding into people's private lives, I don't read any of those kind of stories, but obviously there are lots of people who are nosey, and the papers feed on that.

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