md781510@ohio.edu
In Steve Knowlton and Bill Reader’s "Moral Reasoning for Journalists," they talk about many different
topics relating to journalism ethics and the current state of the news media.
They give four reasons “for the sorry state of the news business”: money, spinmeisters,
tabloid journalism and political bias.
Of the four, tabloid journalism fascinates me the most. It
is the lighter side of news, the stories that focus on celebrity gossip and the entertainment industry. I have
enjoyed tabloid journalism and consumed it daily for nearly a decade. I also
understand that in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t really matter. I am
able to read it and move on to other more important stories about events
happening in the world. However, I sometimes feel that I am in the minority.
Some people only read tabloid journalism. They might not be able to tell you
what’s happening in Syria (the use of chemical weapons on civilians), but they
can tell you who Jennifer Lopez is dating (Casper Smart, one of her dancers).
An example of tabloid journalism in recent days would be the
coverage of Miley Cyrus’s performance at the MTV Video Music Awards on Aug. 25.
The next morning it was one of the top stories on the morning news programs. News
organizations such as NBC’s Today Show continued to talk about days after it
happened. CNN had a new story about Miley Cyrus breaking her silence on the performance
Sept. 3.
From http://www.contactmusic.com/opinion/mtv-vmas-2013-miley-cyrus-disturbing-performance_3837174 |
One could argue that the day after the VMAs, the Miley Cyrus
story was relevant. After all, she is a young woman who still carries a fan base
of young girls after her Disney Channel days. The performance was graphic and
upsetting to young fans and parents, but does that still make it newsworthy
nine days later?
Knowlton and Reader say that maybe journalists are passing
over the serious news stories in favor of entertainment stories because those
are the stories that receive the most ratings and page views— and that is absolutely
true. The culture we live in now wants more stories such as the Miley Cyrus one;
it is why news organizations are including more tabloid journalism in their
broadcasts and on their websites. To be cliché, they are giving the people what
they want.
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