Let's look at the mission of any news source. Most big-name news agencies have altruistic BS slogans they spout off including things like: "truth in reporting"; "on your side"; "most trusted name in news"; and "fair and balanced". They may pretend these are their motivations, however the truth is that like any business their real motivation is money. The true mission of any news agency will fall under one or more of these points:
- Be the first to print (or post)
- Give priority to news items that appeal to the masses
- Grab the attention of the viewer or reader using overly-hyped headlines
- Report the details that sound most controversial; ignore those with real substance
- Sell advertisements
At the risk of sounding like I am about to repeat my previous post about advertising and the internet, advertising revenue is and always will be the bottom-line motivation of news agencies. Whereas I appreciate and enjoy supporting content creators that have interesting and entertaining content to provide, I have no such sympathy for general news agencies.
I tend to use Google News to be my primary news aggregator, and what I have observed lately with Google News is that priority of how articles appear in the feed is given either to major news outlets or to the most sensational headlines (regardless of source). Even though I have no desire to read about the most sensationalized news topic as of late (intentionally omitting reference to that topic), my entire feed across all of my chosen news themes (US, World, Sci/Tech, Science, Technology, Entertainment and Sports) has become watered down by articles working a different angle to that same news story. This has become the most profoundly obvious evidence that the news is broken.
There is likely pressure on editors and reporters at the individual agencies to find new angles to the current news story, so reporters are massaging the details to try and stand apart. Certainly they realize that there is nothing "new" here. The story is the same. The details are the same. As a result, articles that really aren't "news" are receiving far more priority and attention because of the revenue they are generating from the masses of people who crave controversy. Meanwhile, legitimate news stories are getting lost and forgotten. Google as a news feed is clearly working in tandem with major outlets to entice people to read sensational articles about non-news, because that's the storyline that is getting all of the attention.
It is getting all of the attention because it is being forced down our throats and burnt into our retinas!
Amongst the major news agencies, there is no "truth in reporting" or "fair and balanced". There is hype and controversy. And where there is no hype or controversy, there is simulated hype and controversy. These companies, including Google, are clearly working together to determine what is most news-worthy and deserving of attention based on what will generate the most revenue. This is why, at least for me, the news is broken.
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