Is it actual news or to boost ratings?

Kate Anderson

ka668316@ohio.edu

Photo Courtesy of NBC news 

A current search of "January 6 coup" in google will provide readers with at least six news articles written in the last week about the January 6 riot on the capital in 2021. These articles are followed up by others that ask what-if questions about Trump possibly trying to steal the election or another riot. So why are news outlets and journalists still giving these issues and people a platform? 

Studies show that viewership for news and opinion networks took a massive hit in 2021 when they no longer had the election or COVID-19 to boost them. A study done by Variety shows that Fox was down by 34%, MSNBC down by 28%, and CNN down by 38%. Viewership and ratings based on the Neilson Media Research are significant for networks due to the amount of money they can bring in. Based on the Neilson Media Research, advertisers pay more or less for time slots on networks. 

This practice of giving people who do not deserve it a platform results from media outlets caring more about ratings than providing actual news. As Margaret Sullivan said in the title of her column, "If American democracy is going to survive, the media must make a crucial shift." Sullivan also uses quotes from Scholar Ruth Ben-Ghiat, saying, "We are losing our democracy day by day, and journalists are individually aware of this, but media outlets are not centering this as the story it should be." Attention should be on the country and democracy, rather than focusing on the people who are ruining it. Sullivan also included a second quote from Ben-Ghiat that speaks volumes, it reads, "We focus on the enemies of democracy, the villains, but we also need to focus on democracy's heroes." News outlets should present actual news of the good things people do for the country and stop giving detrimental people to democracy. 

News and media outlets need to re-evaluate their content and start presenting informative news and not solely to boost ratings. After over a year of not being the president, Donald Trump should not focus on any news stories or broadcasts on reputable outlets. Journalists need to continue to be the watchdogs of the government and help the democracy, not bring it down. They can do this by reporting and presenting unbiased, helpful information to the people and stop writing what-if articles about a person who no longer matters.