IN case you missed it, the Olympics are coming. Coverage of the lead up to them has been interesting. I know little of the talent of the athletes competing, but I do know that one sporting couple couldn’t share a room, the volleyball team will have to cover up, athletes are upset they had to fly in different classes and the girls are in a flap about who gets to carry the flag.
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Once again sensationalism wins out when it comes to presenting the news, but it’s not just the Olympics receiving this kind of coverage.
Recently another Australian soldier was killed. This story came fourth, with some footballing drama being the lead story.
And then there is Syria. It’s dropped off the radar well and truly, and it is still happening at this very moment.
It is a tragedy affecting an entire nation that gets shoved aside for headlines about the latest reality television star and their public humiliation. Is this because it doesn’t sell?
This style of reporting that grabs the public’s attention by playing on fears, fads or just absurdity for the spectacle of it, does sell, and that is a concern. Why?
Because the more it sells the less we can trust what we see in the mainstream media, the facts start to get in the way of a good story.
I’m sure you all remember the Australian reporter recently fired for falsely reporting she was at the search site for Daniel Morcombe, when in reality she was just sitting in a helicopter on the landing pad with the engine running.
Where is the credibility in reporting and where will this end up?
While normally the realms of trashy magazines and entertainment channels, sensationalism is working its way into everything we watch and read.
Have the values of society degraded so much that this is acceptable, and all we are capable of paying attention to?
Sensationalism of the news eats away at our ability to comprehend a crisis, if it is presented in an unrealistic format.
This needs to change before everyone starts taking the news too lightly and nothing shocks us anymore,
because some things should. Fortunately for us this kind of sensational story telling doesn’t often find its way into rural media, we like our news to be factual without the waffle. We don’t need the hard sell we just need to know what’s going on.
Let’s hope it stays this way and becomes an example that is followed.
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