Sensationalism in the Media
Ilai Amir, Waitakere.
In a world where there isn’t enough time to do everything that we want, we end up relying on mainstream media to show us the world beyond our front doors.
I’ll talk a little bit about one of the issues associated with mainstream media - Sensationalism.
What drives the media?
News media is no longer brought to us solely as an accurate source of information about local and global issues. In reality, it is driven by a corporate agenda that has identified a profit opportunity for fulfilling our need to know about the world around us. Increasing corporate involvement has added a whole new dimension to what we know only of as ‘the news’. Now things like reviewing ratings and advertising play more critical roles, all of this ultimately affects the content of the information being provided.
When a news media organisation is driven by profit and the profit is dependant on the ratings you receive it’s very important to them to take steps to ensure people keep watching. Causing a reaction in an audience will get them to tune in the following day. Getting people to tune in everyday is money.
How are stories sensationalised?
There are many ways a story is made sensational. The word sensational can be defined as:
“arousing or intended to arouse strong curiosity, interest, or reaction, especially by exaggerated or lurid details.”(Oxford Concise Dictionary).
From this we can gather that the goal is to spark or arouse a reaction in the audience.
News media achieve this in many ways sometimes by showing graphic images of events and/or using emotional voice-overs to tell us of how shocking and tragic an event is. They often also use a human subject whether it be footage or an interview so that we can identify with them as a person, which makes it easier for us to sympathise with the tragedy.
Impact of Sensationalism
Stories are glorified so frequently on the news that it’s hard to be certain of the difference between entertainment and reality. This leaves us, the consumers of the news, sitting comfortably in our armchairs, in our heated living room absolutely heart broken at the state of this planet and the people dwelling upon it…
Yet that won’t change what’s for dinner tonight.
Find out more
TAKE ACTION
- Think critically
- Create your own news! Start you own blog or write an article for Just Focus
- Check out alternative media sources:
Indymedia New Zealand
Spectator
Scoop
Free Press
Youth Media Council
This article was first printed in Global Bits, a magazine for youth workers published by the Global Education Centre
