The Rev
06-02-05, 03:09 PM
The purpose of television is to gather audiences together to sell to advertisers. This is the reason ratings are so important. The more people that watch, the more those 30 second ad spaces can be sold for. And the news is no exception.
The news got its start as a public service. The FCC decided that since broadcast bandwidth was limited, licenses for broadcasting would only be given to those who use them to serve the public good in some way. Broadcasting news programs was the answer, and all the major networks have their news shows now.
However, the news is hardly made up of useful information. The fact that another couple dozen soldiers died in Iraq, for example, isn't going to help me put food on the table or improve the quality of my life. So, why show us all this awful stuff? I suspect it may be the modern equivalent of the Roman games, but we watch people's homes destroyed in mudslides instead of christians being gobbled up by lions. IOW, the news is strictly entertainment, based on some of our more gorey fascinations, and it's very popular.
Thoughts?
:book:
The Rev
The news got its start as a public service. The FCC decided that since broadcast bandwidth was limited, licenses for broadcasting would only be given to those who use them to serve the public good in some way. Broadcasting news programs was the answer, and all the major networks have their news shows now.
However, the news is hardly made up of useful information. The fact that another couple dozen soldiers died in Iraq, for example, isn't going to help me put food on the table or improve the quality of my life. So, why show us all this awful stuff? I suspect it may be the modern equivalent of the Roman games, but we watch people's homes destroyed in mudslides instead of christians being gobbled up by lions. IOW, the news is strictly entertainment, based on some of our more gorey fascinations, and it's very popular.
Thoughts?
:book:
The Rev