News story

So what drives the news we watch (or don't watch) on any given night? What news gets to fill our newspapers? What makes news news?

Of course there a numerous factors that makes a story 'newsworthy' like timing, location, 'weirdness' but in the end the things that drives our news is ratings. Essentially the media are like any business and in that television networks and newspaper companies fill their 'store' (their media e.g. tv, newspaper, etc) with 'product' (stories) that people will want to 'buy' (read).

Therefore the news we watch is not necessarily an accurate picture of what is taking place in the world but instead is a snapshot of consumer culture. For example if a plane crashes in the USA and 100 people are killed it will saturate the news, on the other hand thousands of people will die today in the Sudan through preventable causes and the world will hardly notice.

Yada, yada, yada - anyway, if you want to read a more accurate picture of some of the things that are going on in our world visit: www.alertnet.org Well I find it interesting anyway.

Kapia - Glen