29 January 2013
The Controversy between America and the Media For the month of January during the year 2012, Fox News Corp (the highest rated news coverage in the nation) alone averaged 1,942,000 American viewers nightly (press.foxnews.com). America craves the media and being kept up-to-date on any type of social, economic, or any news related matters possible. Due to the emergence of television programming, internet sources, and social media, accessing media/news has never been this convenient for United States citizens in the history of this country. The U.S. and the media share a unique relationship where the media reflects who we are as Americans through our thoughts, desires, and who we are as human beings through the way they report events. Americans are notoriously portrayed as self-centered, nosy, loud individuals and the media gobbles all of these factors up to increase their ratings. Many extremely popular shows like TMZ and Access Hollywood are constantly acting as a pestering gnat to celebrities. The fact that so many of us tune in nightly to view these shows speaks an enormous amount for the country. Americans desire these iconic people, and the media is well aware that if they can squeeze their way into getting the inside scoop, the reward is equivalent to an oversized wallet. We scream for what we want and the media gives it to us; similar to that of a whining child and a passive parent, except the parent is getting pleasure from giving their whining child what they want. Another prime example of the media reacting to our actions or thoughts is the coverage of the recent Sandy Hook shooting. A viral quote that was linked to prestigious actor Morgan Freeman, but was later pronounced a hoax as Freeman denied making the statement, offers a different perspective of how they feel the media reports these shootings: "Flip on the news and watch how we treat the Batman theater shooter and the Oregon mall shooter like celebrities. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are household names, but do you know the name of a single victim of Columbine? Disturbed people who would otherwise just off themselves in their basements see the news and want to top it by doing something worse, and going out in a memorable way" (Brown-Worsham). Whoever made this statement is correct. This is a serious flaw to American media coverage; but unfortunately, this is an even more serious problem with the people of the U.S. The quote goes on and states that the media reports this way because it is the only way the stories will sell; but honestly, why do we allow it to sell? As disturbing as it may seem, the media reports this way because it reflects how Americans think. Think about it, when do we take time to focus on positive actions? Negative events just overshadow positive ones in society today; and in most cases, a negative occurrence can completely degrade a positive one. To any person who has casually watched the news, it will be quick for them to be informed about shootings, car crashes, and natural disasters followed by a five minute segment of what an individual did positively for a school or community. Citizens need to step back and realize that the media reports what we, the people, are interested in and how we act in society. Without America having a voice, there would be no media; and without the media, Americans wouldn't be kept up to date with current matters. Both are enormous entities that, quite possibly, go together more successfully than peanut butter and jelly. Media companies host market researching with consumers all around the nation to find out what is popular so they can compose the next greatest trend that spits out millions of dollars. The media scours for its prey by focusing on people of the United States to fill these market research groups. Just by interacting with the population, media companies can develop million dollar television show ideas, clothing brands, or even food products. These people play a huge