This blog post is focused not so much on a particular news article, but rather news websites in general. There seems to be this ongoing discussion about how Americans only have a "surface-deep" knowledge of the issues. There are those that constantly say how terrible this is and how it is really bad for democracy. But, you know, I might have to disagree with those people. I think I would rather have a diverse citizenry that is informed about what they want to be informed about than a citizenry that is forced by the government to learn certain things. Anyways, that is really not the point of this post, I just figured I'd throw that in there for anyone who really cares about my opinion.
The point of my post is to discuss where this surface deep knowledge comes from in the first place. We have spent a lot of time discussing how the broadcast media, through fragmentation and other means, facilitates this "fast food" media culture of which we are a part. However, I think the news websites deserve some of the credit/blame, however you want to frame it, for helping facilitate this "surface deep" culture. For example, I cite the CNN website. If you look over on the left side of the page, you see this fancy little list of stories. Furthermore, they've taken the time to group some articles together about the main story of the day. Usually these articles are under headlines such as "Slaughter in Syria" or "Afghanistan Quran Burning." Then, as you scroll down, CNN lists stories that range from entertainment news, to sports news, to politics, and everything in between.
This compilation of stories is perfect for the everyday American who needs to get their news on the go. If I'm in a hurry, all I have to do is take a quick glance at the left side of the CNN website to get the news of the day. If I really want to get crazy, I can click on the story and read the brief news article about whatever the story may be. So, in a matter of five minutes or so, I can be up to speed on all the current events from around the world. Now, there are those that complain that this method would mean that I don't know what is going on in some small countries in different parts of the world. I would concede this point, but I would counter that everyday Americans don't need to know about the obscure news events in remote parts of the world. Now, I'm not minimizing these events, I'm just saying that there are experts who deal with those news stories and if members of the public want to read them they can find them. However, I happen to be a fan of the CNN type of "fast food" news.
Personally, I am interested in having more than a surface-deep knowledge of the issues and for this reason I don't rely on the news recaps on these websites as my sole source of news. However, I do rely on these sites throughout the day when I am in a hurry and just want to know whats going on. As usual, I have strayed away from what this post was really supposed to be about. So, let me try to bring it all back together. I think we too often blame the broadcast media for the "fast food" news culture that we live in. However, if you look at pretty much any news website, you are going to see an area for people who just want to get an overview of the news. Clearly, the media has figured out the uses and gratifications theory and they have realized that this is what the majority of Americans want when it comes to news. All I'm saying is that since most of the news outlets have this type of "fast food" media somewhere on their websites, maybe we shouldn't be so quick to criticize the broadcast media.
We all need to remember one thing, each source of media plays a crucial role that helps facilitate our democracy and I think we shouldn't be so quick to criticize the media like we do.
Really good point Robbie. I think we also need to look at the fact that the media meets the needs of the people and if we continue to want most of our news in an easy to read, brief summary type of news, we will continue to get it that way. And for those who are not the majority, there are many outlets to find a deeper knowledge on any particular event or story. I think it is such an accurate statement to say "media plays a crucial role that helps facilitate democracy" and i definitely think we shouldn't criticize since media is a direct reflection of what we demand.
ReplyDelete