How does the media determine whats is most important to most people?

Question

Do magazines, television, radio, movies, internet, newspapers, and other types of media determine what is important to people now a days???

Explain your answers.

Answer 1

The media does not determine whats is most important to most people.  It determines what will make the most sensational headlines and what will please its owners.  Take for instance O.J. Simpson.  Conrad Black, Princess Diana etc.  Most people don't give a hoot about such oddballs, but they all got weeks of press which was important to no one.  Look at 9/11 and the amount of press it is still getting and compare it to the tsunami a few years ago which killed countless more people.  It isn't what is important that determines newsworthiness; it is what can create the biggest sensation.

Answer 2

They don't. The media by and large presents only those news stories that support their political and social veiwpoints, and they do so with whatever bias they have. Objective journalism has been dead in this country for over 50 years now.

Answer 3

There must be a reason why Britney Spears gets so much negative hype while Bush's war crimes go unchecked. There must be a reason why Hillary was bashed into conceding and Barack is labled as a racist while McCain's extramarital affair was ignored. There must be a reason why we are fed fattening bits of meaningless soundbites while the government chips away at our basic freedoms, terrorists are tortured, the debt grows higher, the planet gets cooked and the rest of the world prepares to impose sanctions on us.

There must be a reason...there must be a reason??? Will we ever know???

They want to keep us in the dark. Go see the latest Indiana Jones movie, watch American Idol, smoke your Marlboros and pretend that everything's ok.

By the time people finally wake up there won't be an America to feel safe in anymore.

Answer 4

I can only speak from a newspaper perspective. I have a BA in journalism and worked at a newspaper for one year before going to grad school.

Newspapers, and I would say all media outlets, use news judgement to determine what stories are most important to their readers (viewers). News judgement takes practice, and isn't something learned over night; however, some people have great instincts when it comes to news judgement.

News judgement comes from specific news values. Stories should have more than one value, and the more values a story has, the more dominance it has. News values are like timeliness, prominence, proximity, novelty, impact and relevance.

Answer 5

By being like spiders.

They spin all day long.  The only trouble is, they often get caught in the web of their own lies.

Answer 6

Sadly, they don't... they figure out what "appeals" to people the most... which is EXACTLY what's wrong with cable news. Infotainment. And how do they figure that out? By ratings. We talked about iraq today... another network talked about paris hilton got higher ratings. So they talk about paris hilton the next day. Its that simple. People are more likely to watch a segment on shark attacks than they are another bloody day in iraq... and competition figures that out. This is how its determined.

Newspapers do a much better job prioritizing the news based on what's important. As bad as it sounds for the "media" to determine importance... that's they're job, or its supposed to be, and the mark of a fine journalist. Newspapers are better because people who only want the serious news buy newspapers.

Answer 7

This sounds like a homework question.  Well... there's some theory (I forget what it's called) that basically says "The media doesn't tell people what to think, but it tells people what to think ABOUT."  So that means the answer to your question is yes.  And...that's the best explaination I have for my answer.  It's a theory.