Journalism and the news have become entertainment outlets. Because of consumerism and social media use, ethical journalism has become more difficult to identify. We choose what to believe and where we get our information, and we like to engage in polarizing discussions about the far right and the far left. Naturally we love to hate and there were plenty examples throughout Donald Trump’s presidency and the events following the end of his term, such as the January 2021 Insurrection.
Social media was a major tool in spotlighting the events of January 6th. Because social media has a global platform, people can see images and videos from the Insurrection almost as they happen. Social media acts as a pipeline for news, delivering what’s happening instantaneously, and sometimes, your exposure to certain political events are dependent on your feed.
News organizations made profits from Trump’s presidency. Both Democratic-leaning outlets and Republican-leaning outlets saw a revenue increase from covering Trump. Just in the first quarter of his presidency, Fox News saw the greatest quarter in the history of cable news, MSNBC grew by more than 50 percent in both daytime and primetime, and CNN saw double-digit growth in ratings in 2016, according to The Atlantic. Whether media coverage is positive or negative, news outlets attracted larger audiences by covering Trump.
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/05/donald-trump-media-enemies/525381/
Discussions in newsrooms revolve around what people care about, what’s trending, and what comes off as the most entertaining. If an organization had to choose between covering a story that truly informed the public in the most unbiased way, or a story that is slightly skewed but it will receive more views and positive feedback, the more attention-grabbing story will air almost every time. The case of Gabby Petito is a classic example of this. News networks understood the growing obsession of this case, and the story rose to national news quickly. America’s obsession with true crime played a role into the virality of the case. Some people kept up with related news articles because they’re personally fascinated with missings person cases the way they are portrayed on TV. But we have to remember this is happening in real life, and it’t not a documentary.
The media played a huge role in raising awareness for domestic abuse and safety. But there are plenty of other similar stories that go completely unnoticed. Native American women, members of the LGBTQ+ community and non-whites who go missing do not receive as much coverage or effort from the public. The case of Gabby Petito was powerful in that it showed that when people are knowledgable about a missing person, social media can be used to find the answer to bring her justice. Even in the national search of finding her body, 9 other missing bodies were found. News coverage picks and chooses which cases to highlight and which to leave unsolved. Cases involving white women are proven to be covered over any other demographic, which warps the perspective of those consuming media.
Trends are important in the news. Many employees are actually hired to study the rundowns of competing outlets, to analyze their coverage and almost copy what the other station finds important. If you look closely, news outlets with similar leanings tend to cover the same things in a similar order, while outlets with a different political leaning might prioritize completely different stories. Trends are also found in TV shows, as themes that are prominent in the field of politics appear in the media. For example, Netflix’s Lucifer advocated for the Black Lives Matter movement by writing in awareness of police brutality into their plot lines.
Storytelling is present in media and in journalism, and messages like these can have the potential to reach large audiences. However, the incentive of telling these stories should be to advocate, not to make money. News and politics have become focused on making money and generating entertainment, but there should be a deeper motive.
Mediated Pop 
I appreciated this pop talk topic! It is one that we live with everyday but you broke it down and highlighted it in such a great way. Today we see so many “news” shows have a a single, entertaining host such as Tucker Carlson and Anderson Cooper. While I do not watch much of either of these people, I know that with the few clips and quotes I’ve seen from these “Journalists”, there shows are nothing more than entertainment. The “news” is presented with their opinions and they get audiences engaged with wildly speaking their mind.. saying anything to get the ratings up and the money in.
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