P2P-Zone - View Single Post - Bush's ratings drop from 42% to 34% in one month

Mazer · 12-05-06, 11:53 AM

I'm certain that, if you took a few minutes of your time, you could find dozens if not hundreds of positive current news stories about Iraq, the economy, and even the president. But since the media isn't actively bringing these stories to the public's attention it's no wonder that most people believe we're doing lousy as a country.

Every night, on every local evening news show, they start their reporting with a 20 minute block of bad news. Murders, rapes, car accidents, burglarys, house fires, and after the first five minutes I loose my taste for it and change the channel. By the time the local news has started reporting the stories they've been teasing all day, I've found something else worth watching. But I must be in the minority, because if everyone was turned off by the news like I am then ratings would drop and they'd change their reporting to suit. In other words, people love bad news, and the ratings are capturing that morbid obsession.

You'll notice that most polls are commissioned by news agencies. Polls of this magnitude aren't cheap, so if the news agencies only used poll results to fill 25 seconds of air time or 15 lines of print, they'd stop commissioning them. Remember, they're trying to sell advertising here, and anything that doesn't increase circulation or ratings gets the boot. Obviously, polls serve an other purpose. My guess is that polls tell news agencies how effective their reporting is, and that in turn tells them how much repeat business they can expect. This knowledge equips them to tell people what they want to hear, to say the words that will have the greatest emotional impact, and to get more of their aucience to come back for more.

You can probably see where I'm going with this. I'm suggesting that the news that gets on national TV or in nationally circulated newspapers is custom taylored to fit its audience, and if that means omiting or distorting vital facts then so be it. Usually the whole, objective Truth just isn't entertaining enough to keep the masses interested in current events. But when the ratings tell you that people love hearing bad news, and the polls tell you that people relate to bad news, then what do you think will happen?

12-05-06, 11:53 AM	#35
Mazer Earthbound misfit Join Date: May 2001 Location: Moses Lake, Washington Posts: 2,563	I'm certain that, if you took a few minutes of your time, you could find dozens if not hundreds of positive current news stories about Iraq, the economy, and even the president. But since the media isn't actively bringing these stories to the public's attention it's no wonder that most people believe we're doing lousy as a country. Every night, on every local evening news show, they start their reporting with a 20 minute block of bad news. Murders, rapes, car accidents, burglarys, house fires, and after the first five minutes I loose my taste for it and change the channel. By the time the local news has started reporting the stories they've been teasing all day, I've found something else worth watching. But I must be in the minority, because if everyone was turned off by the news like I am then ratings would drop and they'd change their reporting to suit. In other words, people love bad news, and the ratings are capturing that morbid obsession. You'll notice that most polls are commissioned by news agencies. Polls of this magnitude aren't cheap, so if the news agencies only used poll results to fill 25 seconds of air time or 15 lines of print, they'd stop commissioning them. Remember, they're trying to sell advertising here, and anything that doesn't increase circulation or ratings gets the boot. Obviously, polls serve an other purpose. My guess is that polls tell news agencies how effective their reporting is, and that in turn tells them how much repeat business they can expect. This knowledge equips them to tell people what they want to hear, to say the words that will have the greatest emotional impact, and to get more of their aucience to come back for more. You can probably see where I'm going with this. I'm suggesting that the news that gets on national TV or in nationally circulated newspapers is custom taylored to fit its audience, and if that means omiting or distorting vital facts then so be it. Usually the whole, objective Truth just isn't entertaining enough to keep the masses interested in current events. But when the ratings tell you that people love hearing bad news, and the polls tell you that people relate to bad news, then what do you think will happen?