At least we’re consistent.
Via Jeff Jarvis, I found this article contrasting media coverage of the Anna Nicole Smith death versus coverage of Iraq. This echoes coverage of the Natalee Holloway ordeal.
The numbers are quite staggering:
On CNN there were 141 references to Anna Nicole and 27 to Iraq.
FOX NEWS weighed in at 112 to 33.
MSNBC took the cake with 170 to 24.
To spell this out: We’re currently in a bloody, complicated war that costs billions, and has a very uncertain future. So what’s all over the news? Anna Nicole.
By the way, I hear that things might be getting kind of testy with this country called Iran. It’s probably just a rumor since I haven’t seen a lot about it on the news lately.
The question at the heart of this: Who’s to blame? The main-stream media (MSM) or us?
The MSM gives us what we want to watch in exchange for ratings. So if we really wanted to know what was happening in Iraq (or Iran) and watched the network gave us that– soon they’d all do that.
The ratings have been a boon during the Smith death coverage. So while I want to blame the MSM, but really, isn’t it our fault?
2/27/13 – Good to see nothing’s changed. I do wonder if anyone’s updated these stats recently. I’ll bet the trend towards empty calories has only accelerated.
It would be nice if they actually did respond directly to viewer tastes, but I fear that recently advertising influence seems more prevalent. ABC showed the untrue mock documentary about 9/11 putting blame on the Clinton administration although public opinion was in an uproar very much against it.
Last night, NBC interviewed soldiers in Iraq who expressed extreme distrust of the reason they are given by the administration for being in that war. Just last week, ABC News gave interviews with soldiers in Iraq who to a person expressed confidence in the administration. I fear the biases are pretty obvious.
What an upside down world we live in.
"It’s probably just a rumor since I haven’t seen a lot about it on the news lately."
dude,
don't you watch FOX Noice Channel? you could see Iran every hour of the day.