People (including me) sometimes complain that the media sensationalizes the news. Duh! 🚨I SAID, DUH!!!🚨 What the hell did you expect? Sensationalism sells. And, to be honest, who would pay attention if the news media put absolutely everything in its totally proper perspective?
Even when it comes to news, why wouldn’t we want something a little more sensational than everyday life? For most of us, our life includes several hours of sleep and at least a few stretches of ennui. And some people experience exceptionally more boredom than other people, but enough about me.
I do object to the major television news networks’ apparent belief that they can’t report anything unless they first have an eye-popping graphic and an ear-popping fanfare to introduce the story.
And then there are the tabloids. They have a maddening habit of filling most of the front page with an overly dramatic photograph or cartoon that may or may not have much to do with the story/stories referenced on page one.
Those objections aside, I’m definitely not eager to see the media put every news story in its proper perspective.
Possibly tone their coverage down a bit. Sure.
Maybe occasionally report on the broader context. You betcha.
But if broadcasters always gave equal time to everything that happens, or doesn’t happen, the following is what the average newscast would sound like:
News Entirely in Perspective
Announcer 👩🏾: Good evening. It’s six o’clock and time for the Monday edition of Chanel Five Real Reality Local News. Here are your lackluster and wearisome news anchors, John Smith and Mary Doe, with what’s making news today.
John, with a blank look on his face 👱🏿♂️: Good evening. Turning to the crime beat, no crimes were committed on Elm street today. And no one did anything ontoward on Oak Street. Willow Boulevard was also crime-free. No crimes were committed on Crabapple Avenue either. Likewise, no one perpetrated any nefarious activity on Elm Crescent. …
John, fifteen minutes later👱🏿♂️: No misdeeds were committed on Pine Street. But on Chestnut Street nothing whatsoever of note happened. On Ash Lane, an unknown assailant, said to resemble Sasquatch, brutally raped and murdered five women and three children after poisoning and decapitating five pets. Call the police if you spot a large, apelike, violent, sexually deviant animal-hater with big feet. Do not approach the suspect. Continuing with local news, little Mary Jane Doe played in her front yard, but, other than that, no one did anything interesting on Birch Street. And no one reported any crimes on Dogwood Boulevard. …
John, thirty minutes later👱🏿♂️: Nobody and no animals did anything worthy of note on Hackberry Crescent. Meanwhile, down on Hickory Road, no one on the street even ventured outside and no one from elsewhere visited the street. And that’s your look at crime, or lack thereof, in our city for today. Now, here’s Mary with the local political news.
City Politics in Perspective
Mary, with a vacant look on her face that is even less expressive than John’s visage 👩🦱: Thanks, John. Turning to city council news, Councillor John Walkligher spend the day working in his office on constituency matters. Meanwhile, Councillor Betty Getty toured her ward.
Councillor Jane Evryladie spent the whole day studying city documents. At around 2:00 this afternoon, a security guard caught Councillor Jake Flackmeister butchering a sheep and eating parts of it raw during a Satanist ritual. Before this Mephistophelian rite, Flackmeister allegedly had rough sex with the animal. The guard walked in after the sex ended. We learned of it only because Flackmeister carried out this atrocity in front of a large group of visiting schoolchildren and their teacher, whom Flackmeister drugged. The witnesses told their stories to a team of psychologists and psychiatrists assembled by the school board. Flackmeister accounted for the sheep, which he bought and imported by first-class air from overseas using city funds, in the city’s books as “meals and entertainment.” The police cooked and ate the leftovers. They are now investigating the alleged crime. And, this morning, Councillor Barry Gofer took visiting dignitaries on a tour of city hall, without any knowledge of the goings on in Flackmeister’s office. Also this morning, Councillor Rita Meetermade reviewed public transit contract bids …
Mary, 10 minutes later 👩🦱: In the afternoon, Councillor Fred Minion reviewed a development proposal. Councillor Brooke Bookman spent the day explaining the benefits of the Dewey decimal System to disgruntled city library users.
And Now, Sports
Mary, after twenty more minutes of mostly humdrum “news” 👩🦱: Let’s turn back to John for the sports news. John? John, wake up. Wake up, John! Oh, never mind. Our hour ended a few minutes ago anyway. That’s it for the six o’clock news. Have a great evening. And don’t forget to join us here again tomorrow for the Tuesday edition of Chanel Five Real Reality News.
😴
Yeah, right. What do you think are the chances that you or I would join them again tomorrow? One thing is certain. If the media put everything in perspective we’d all get a lot more sleep. On reflection, maybe that’s not such a bad idea.
It’s Them. And Us.
So, the next time you complain about the media’s sensationalism, remember, if they kept everything 100 percent in perspective, you’d probably tune out. And when I complain about it, as I no doubt will, please, remind me too.
True, the news media shouldn’t go overboard.
And, sure, I think the media should, every once in a while, say something to the effect of, “Hey, you know that brutal murder we just told you about? Well, it did happen. But there are x million people in the geographic area we typically cover who weren’t killed or injured. In fact, they all had rough approximations of perfectly normal days.
“Therefore, as far as violence is concerned, it’s probably exceedingly safe for you to go on with your regularly scheduled life. Although, we are in the mist of a pandemic. So it would be a great idea to do your best to keep your distance from other people and wear a mask whenever you have to go out. And, that’s the news.”
But, as I already said, it’s not all on the media. It’s up to us, the viewing/reading/listening public, to remember it’s not the media’s job to report what’s perfectly normal. It’s their job to report the exceptions to what’s normal. And the exceptions—at least the noteworthy ones—are often foul. No, not anywhere near always. But often. We need to keep that in mind.
On the other hand, if any one media outlet regularly goes overboard in sensationalizing the news, or if they report only the horrid exceptions, and none of the good exceptions, we should remember that they have competitors who might like to capture our eyeballs.
