The Role of the News in Our World
The Role of the News in Our World
If you have ever watched any of the news programs, you know that it is never anything good. It is almost always something negative. The same thing can be said for most newspapers. The media seems to be designed to create the illusion of news so we don’t realize that it isn’t really news at all. The news is something that we decide to ignore.
Why is the media so keen on creating the illusion of news? There is a very simple reason. Money. When a commercial comes in to create a news story, the first thing they do is look for someone to speak about their product. They find an anchor or a reporter to do the talking. When they find the right person to talk about their product, that person becomes the news.
This is part of the advertising business, part of marketing and of getting the word out about something. We are constantly told that we must have this or we won’t get enough customers. This is the basis for advertising. But in the real world, if a product doesn’t sell, it doesn’t matter how much you spend on advertising. In fact, if it sells and gets enough customers, it may not need more advertising. The news is created, maintained and reported to us in order to make the public pay attention to whatever it is that they are selling.
The press also provides the entertainment news. It is something that we look forward to. We look forward to breaking news. We want to find out what happened at a certain day or what is happening in a particular place at a given time. We love reading about what is going on and we enjoy hearing about what is happening.
It is our daily source of amusement and excitement. We turn to the newspaper and to the television to see what is going on. We follow the news wherever it goes. News becomes another word for what we do. When the economy takes a down-turn, the media react as if the news is bad. We react to the news that we read and watch with some amount of excitement and interest.
We want to know what is happening in our world and who is doing what. We follow the news to see who is in charge. We look forward to reading or watching news because of its entertainment value. If you want to keep the public glued to your website for long enough to get advertising revenue, provide news that entertains, stirs the pot or changes the course of history, you need to provide news that moves the public opinion.