Introduction
In today’s media culture, most news consumers prefer to watch the news on TV rather than listen to news broadcasting on the radio. The reason for this shift is because of the visual elements that accompany the news bulletin. As a result, most TV stations have lost the focus on delivering quality, audible, easy-to-understand, and authentic content. These medial visual stations overemphasize factors such as the appearance and personality of the news anchors, the quality of audio and visual presentation, and other factors such as video evidence and live coverage.
These factors distort the quality and value of news because different TV stations compete to deliver captivating information instead of focusing on reporting important things in society (Realgo, 2021). Most TV news anchors no longer content and value the news, which is why most media stations focus on the physical factors to keep the viewers glued, other than their journalism and communication skills. Additionally, today’s media culture overemphasizes mediocre news and ignores important events in the local and global scene. Unlike the TV, most radio stations maintain the traditional media culture of informing, educating, and increasing awareness to the general public on the local and international government, security, new developments, weather, and sports.
Discussion
The content of today’s news on TV stations lacks ‘Newsworthy.’ Most media stations fail to consider the impact of the content on all the viewers. For example, daytime news should not have graphic video coverage, is violent, and can potentially traumatize most viewers. Unfortunately, most media houses will choose to air tragic news for longer than content that positively impacts the lives of the viewers. Thus, the impact of news should be the ability to demonstrate relevance to those touched by a narrative or incident. The magnitude of the effect increases as the number of persons impacted increases. Quality news should focus on timeliness. The power of news story that demands authenticity will diminish with time.
Breaking news stories are an excellent illustration of timely content, and they virtually always capitalize on the benefit of their timeliness. Today, it’s common to find that in the event of local or breaking news, only some media stations will reschedule their programs to cover the bulletin. Timing of news is an insight or revelation that corresponds with significant news and might help the media house exploit information that is more ‘newsworthy’ than the announcement, increasing the chances of receiving the desired media attention. Prominence has replaced most values of quality news content. Prominence relates to over-presentations of stories involving well-known individuals, locations, or events. According to the viewpoint of the news media, prominence renders a news report more significant to the public and translates to more viewers (Realgo, 2021).
For instance, international media houses like CNN can choose to cover a new piece about how Kanye West lost the Adidas deal. However, such information is not important to people watching from third-world countries because they are not familiar with the celebrity, nor have they purchased Adidas products. Today’s media culture is slowly shifting to conflict content. Audiences are constantly interested in disputes and conflicts. Several news consumers will be intrigued if a disagreement is associated with an event. For example, most audiences blame the Muslim community for terrorist attacks instead of looking at the deeper causes of insecurity, such as politics and injustice. Media houses understand that it is human nature to select a side and defend it. Religious ideologies, sports, commerce, prosecutions, and invasions, are the common news content. For instance, a top TV media house in the U.S., a region with the problem of obesity, would choose to cover twenty minutes of the war between Russia and Ukraine instead of dedicating ten minutes to content on a healthy lifestyle.
Most media houses, especially TV stations, overlook the professional qualifications of news anchors. A quick scan of most TV stations will reveal that most news anchors have great bodies and perfect physical attributes. This outlook indicates that the possibility of securing the news anchor role among people considered unattractive is minimal, especially among women presenters. It’s always the ones with perfectly toned bodies on the screens. For instance, the common sleeveless sheath clothing and the mini skirts worn by the female journalist indirectly message that the presenter is a hard worker who frequents the gym does her hair, and takes care of her body, and this is a major distraction to the viewers. In fact, most female news anchors look like supermodels more than journalists, leading to sexism in media houses.
Media houses are aware that sex sells and that a big share of viewers will tune in to watch their favorite presenter, not because of the news content. Female reporters are increasingly confronted with gender-based violence outside their mainstream media outlets, such as a deluge of internet bullying and hatred. But they also face prejudice, sexual violence, and intimidation on the job. Media stations are presently concerned with the external factors that will attract a major crown than the content and authenticity of the news. This greed for viewers has resulted in practices like journalist poaching, whereby one media house offers better working conditions and salaries to journalists and presenters from other media houses. In other cases, big media house has bought smaller houses to increase the number of viewers. However, few efforts are dedicated to improving the profession of journalism and making the content “newsworthy.” A good example of a TV station that focuses on news content is Aljazeera. Al Jazeera offers a variety of news, discussion shows, instructional programming, a special arena for unfiltered news and discussion, and unprecedented editorial independence. This reputable news organization aims to provide fascinating content that educates, encourages, and entertains the globe via its skilled, dynamic, and passionate staff.
Today, most news bulletin overemphasis on mediocre news. Most news channels start with natural catastrophes, murders, and misdeeds. For example, plane catastrophes usually make the headlines, although vehicle accidents that kill considerably more individuals seldom do. Not strikingly, many individuals have a phobia of flying, while nearly nobody has a phobia of driving. Nobody is interested in hearing about the aircraft that set off and touched down safely. News presenters and consumers only care about the planes that crashed. It’s a new media culture that news bulletin is dominated by extraordinary and mostly bad incidents (Realgo, 2021). However, there are many good tales in the news, like Kevin Durant’s MVP-winning performance in the NBA Championship Game, for which he gave his mother all the glory.
However, these stories get less publicity. The repercussions of unfavorable news are also negative. Instead of being more educated, avid news consumers might become uninformed. Experts in the media are also aware that today’s generation is more likely to respond to the actions of regular people who are ignorant or malicious. Negativity is far more engaging because it elicits a broader and more powerful response in the human brain. Journalism should include constructive journalism. Constructive journalism is a fresh news paradigm predicated on the notion that the media has a negative bias that must be addressed. It tries to present viewers with a balanced, truthful, and context-dependent view of the world instead of focusing excessively on the negative. In practice, this entails investigating ambiguities and subtleties, seeking answers to issues and publicizing them, and participating in and fostering discussion. According to international studies, individuals are increasingly turning off the news because it leaves them feeling gloomy and inactive, which is a solid argument for avoiding negative news.
Conclusion
Journalists are constantly on the lookout for exciting, public-interest news. Their understanding of newsworthiness will allow them to choose articles that will increase their consumption or media rankings. It is more probable that a topic will be newsworthy if it is already receiving widespread attention and discussion. Certain stories, such as the COVID-19 epidemic and the Ukrainian civil war, fulfill many news values. Certain occurrences, like a pandemic, starvation, or death, will always be seen negatively by most of the audience. Not only does constructive journalism assist news companies, but it also benefits society as a whole. Journalists frequently deny selecting a piece of negative news for presentation. Instead, their decision is contingent on the existence of additional news values. Editors of the news have a certain target audience in mind. Thus, each news organization will establish its agenda according to its preferences.
Reference
Realgo, B. R. (2021). Ilokano journalists’ adherence to code of Ethics and their values and challenges in news management. Journal of Media,Culture and Communication, (12), 1–15. Web.