There are many instances where news
production companies struggle to be the first ones on the scene.
There is some merit to being the first “late-breaking” story. Yet, there are many times news
broadcasters wish they had waited just a little while longer to show on-air
what they thought was news, but turned out to be conjecture (polling
results, for example.) This on-air suicide is much more serious and
has many more implications.
Rumours and conjecture often travel
much faster than the facts themselves. In our rush for information,
be it good or bad, many people don't care about accuracy. We want all
the information and we want it now, with rarely a care for
fact-checking. Many television corporations are aware of this and
send out information as quickly as possible. Later, if revisions need
to be mde or mistakes apologized for, it seems like no big deal to go
back and change whatever information was put out there in the first
place. Nine times out of ten, the news would have gone on to some
other sensationalized story anyway.
Ideally, the news would be facts only,
objective stories about current events, good and bad. Watching
network news now, though, seems to suggest that the violent crimes
and out-of-the-ordinary stories are the ones that get all the press.
And not only do they take up space on the news roster, they are often
presented in such a way that suggests how we should feel about the
story- they are also blown out of proportion. On the other hand,
local news attempts to temper their violence-ridden, biased news
stories with fluff pieces about fashion shows and cute pets, which
also serves to undermine the realities that we live everyday.
It's not a surprise that this man shot
himself. It is surprising that it happened on-air. People expecting
to tune into the news should not have to witness live people dying.
On the other hand, what kind of people watch car cashes? Inevitabley,
these cars crash and people die. That's to be expected. This is not
the kind of news I would want to watch on television, or anywhere
else. Many people in our culture though treat life as a sort of
movie. If there is a car accident, many feel entitled to all the gory
details.
I agree with you in respect to the accuracy of the news and the fact that oftentimes they are rushed to the air. I can think of a recent event on the local news when conjecture took precedence over fact. Last week a border patrol agent was killed while attending to a call about possible border crossers. When the news about his death were first reported, newscasters inferred because it was an border/illegal immigration issue that the officer had been killed by possible drug dealers or illegals. The Governor also got into the action and issued a statement politicizing the whole tragedy to further her agenda. As we all now know, the officer was unfortunately killed by a fellow agent. If reporters had just stuck to reporting the event without speculating about how it occurred it would have prevented further divide among the population on this issue.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great example of what I mean. Awful tragedy though, certainly. I think that this sort of irresponsible reporting is ultimately the fault of rushed broadcasters and media personnel more concerned with making a buck than the accuracy of their reporting, but isn't it also the public's insatiable hunger for the most violent, shocking news as quickly as possible. I'm almost certain there are people who get a kick out of seeing someone commit suicide on live TV. How many hits on YouTube are there for the video? I bet a LOT. It's gross- that "car accident rubber-necking" aspect to reporting that the public loves and I do think it reflects how our pop culture values are so skewed.
ReplyDeletePaying attention to any media source for 30 minutes will tell you how much American citizens are attracted to gore, violence, and all society-deemed, inappropriate topics, you are right! Money also ranks high on the value system in American culture, and if inappropriate is what the public wants, it is no surprise any media source would strive to produce inappropriate stories. It is no shock Fox News aired a man committing suicide on live television, I agree. By airing such violence, gore, and death, viewed by our culture as excitement, it would be easily deduced that news companies saw an opportunity to make money by giving the public what it wants, or in other words, what they’re told they should not have.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand though, I don't think Fox News intentionally showed the suicide. There is usually a time-lag on live television so cuss words and the like can be edited out. But what is the purpose of showing things like this at all? Stocking it all up to corporate greed and a shameless audience is easy. Do we, as a society, truly want what we're told we can't have? I certainly have no desire to see this sort of violence at any time. Obviously though, these sorts of stunts pull in viewers. The companies say they may have an idea about what the public wants, but I think lots of times our expectations are distorted and generalized so that we are exposed to things like this and thus, expected to be attracted to it. When this happens it sets a precedent and although we may not truly want to see it, we are shown it again and again. I think in this example we see how pop-culture is not a true reflection of society, but an influence onto society, and ultimately with negative consequences.
ReplyDeleteExcellent points... and you sum it up well, Sylvie, in saying that "in this example we see how pop-culture is not a true reflection of society, but an influence onto society, and ultimately with negative consequences." "Reflection" is a term we use so much when analyzing popular culture, and while the term is useful, it can feel reductive, as we know culture is actually extremely dynamic and complex. What will be interesting to see is whether "negative consequences" impact news reportage moving forward. The situation as a whole begs the following question: What information ("news") should society most be informed about to be a healthy, effective society - and what information is our society most informed about?
ReplyDeleteShock value is penetrating the market more and more now. The fact that news organizations are broadcasting live deaths scenes such as that feel slightly immoral almost. They deliberately broadcast actions like this for what? Ratings. Ratings keep their jobs alive no matter the expense of another life. Not every news corporation is like this though and who knows maybe it was a gaffe that the suicide was broadcast but never the less, the spread of these images and situations needs to be controlled closely. It's just common decency
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