I never watch the news anymore, because let's face it, I don't have time to sit on the couch for a half hour and watch news reporters leisurely discuss a story (especially if it's something that I don't care about). I also find that half of all news stories are depressing, so I avoid watching on behalf of my sanity. Thus, I--like many other people these days--have MSNBC as my homepage, and if I see a story that interests me, I click on headline and skim through the article.
Going to the internet for news, rather than the television, is an increasing trend: according to the Pew Research Center, 68% of people got their news from TV in 1991, which decreased to 58% in 2010; meanwhile, 44% of people got their news from the web in 2010.
This week, while watching shows other than the news, I saw a couple commercials for the local Channel 5 news (WPTZ) which suggest that they are trying to combat this trend (as they should be if they have a decent marketing department). One commercial channeled reality TV format and was about two neighboring families in a trailor park who do nasty things to each other (like pour acid on the other's car?!). The other commercial promoted a special about different iPhone/iPad apps, called "App All Night," which they cleverly supplemented with seductive music. I laughed when I saw both of these commercials, because they were obviously trying to make the nightly news seem as appealing as popular TV shows--which, by nature, the news is not.
Should the news try to win more viewers by changing the nature of their content? Or is it just weird that they should try to be something that they're not, i.e. scandalous and compelling?
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