Sensationalism

Fox News 

Geraldo at Large 

March 17, 2012

There were two main events that Geraldo reported on. His first point was Mitt Romney won Puerto Rico with all 20 delegates! His next point was featuring the U.S. soldier who killed 16 civilians. The soldier killing 16 civilians is very important and I do not want to downgrade the grief that people are going through, but should it still be a “Fox Alert” headline? This happened over a week ago. Geraldo did not just report what happened to the victims but he also framed the story more relatable for “normal” Americans because he reported the story in a way that made the soldier look like he was having personal and economic problems. The news story was based around the soldiers family and economic problems not the victims families. None of this was information was new information that Americans needed to know. We have spoke a lot about sensationalism in class and this is clear in this news report. The entire story is about giving people what they want, not about what they need. I do think that we needed to know about the soldier killing 16 innocent people but I do not think it is necessary for America to know the personal business of the soldier's life. This report is not informing Americans on information that it detrimental, in fact it is hurting the family of the soldier. As Geraldo said the soldier is a father and a husband and reporting on the family is only making the situation worse for them. It is not their fault their father or husband killed anyone, in the end the decision was ultimately up to the soldier. 

The next story that Geraldo covered was prostitution in the United States and he titled it as the Prime Fox Alert. I do realize that prostitution is a concern but should it be on national news or should the Syrian crisis be on the news? The Syrian crisis is a concern that is happening right now that should be on the front of newspapers and should be the headlines on the news everyday until this horrific massacre of people is stopped.

I have been bashing Geraldo’s show throughout this blog but I want to make it clear that I do not think he is doing a bad job, I just think that what his reported stories could have greater significance. Now that I say that, I do not want to downgrade the grief that people are going through but I believe that the killing of 16 people is over and the soldiers family is not important to the issue. Most all media outlets participate in sensationalism in some way. If the media did not do this the quality of the news would be much higher. Giving the people what they want is not always what they need. If the media gave the people what they needed then I believe the people would realize the importance of news content.