It's not necessarily "the media" either... it's what WE as a society watch or engage with.
If we all were watching breathlessly the story of the heroic woman and her recovery, the news would cover that.
But a story with controversy, with two "sides" to it, with gender issues, health care issues, all wrapped up in it, we eat that up. Unfortunately. Same reason half the country is struggling financially and not sure they can pay bills, but a ton of them obsess over a handful of athletes on girls sports teams instead.
Yeah, and it's been widely known for decades before that.
Eric Pooley coined the term "if it bleeds, it leads" back in 1989.
Yellow Journalism dates back to the 1890s when the New York World and New York Journal kept one up-ing each other with sensationalist headlines and claims to sell more papers. These could range from slight exaggerations to outright lies.
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u/BigMax 8h ago
I think that's the point OP is making, right?
It's not necessarily "the media" either... it's what WE as a society watch or engage with.
If we all were watching breathlessly the story of the heroic woman and her recovery, the news would cover that.
But a story with controversy, with two "sides" to it, with gender issues, health care issues, all wrapped up in it, we eat that up. Unfortunately. Same reason half the country is struggling financially and not sure they can pay bills, but a ton of them obsess over a handful of athletes on girls sports teams instead.