24/7 news is driven by profit. They need to you keep watching and develop content with the purpose of getting you “hooked” on their programming so they can sell advertising. This is their primary objective and they do it really well. By making you feel like you are part of the team against “the bad guys” they suck you in and make you feel the need to keep watching so you will be informed about what evil thing those guys are trying to do. In this environment, truth and facts are secondary to the actual plot…a plot whose sole purpose is to get you emotionally hooked into watching.
This is done in a myriad of ways, but one of them is by claiming to be the best source of “real news” while subtly or overtly demeaning the other sources of news. Why tune somewhere else if you are already getting the best?
They play to people’s fears. In order to survive, we all need to be aware of danger. As a result, we are hardwired to pay attention to things that might negatively affect us. This is why the news is almost always about tragic, upsetting, or anger-provoking topics. There is an old saying in news: “If it bleeds, it leads.”
They always have a face to go with the story. Make the wrongdoer look bad in the photo while the victim looks sweet and innocent. This plays to people’s sympathies and draws them into the story.
They always know their audience so that the story can be spun in the appropriate way to keep them engaged.
Let’s consider an example: imagine there is legislation being considered about increasing the number of wolves that could be trapped or hunted each year. A “just the facts story” would indicate what wolf populations trends had been and what the DNR thought the changes would mean for the future of the wolf population.
But let’s say that your primary audience is ranchers, then the pictures that accompany the story would be of cattle killed by wolves, perhaps a snarling wolf, and an “expert” stating that the proposed hunting laws would reduce the number of wolves to a reasonable number. A rancher would talk about how financially “devastating” it is to have wolves killing all the calves. The environmentalists would be painted as being rich out-of-touch urbanites with a romantic idea of wolves who have the ear of the politicians who oppose common sense changes in hunting laws.
If your audience was environmentalists, your program would show pictures of dead wolves, preferably ones mangled in a neglected trap. An “expert” would talk about the importance of wolves to the ecosystem while the silhouette of a howling wolf played in the background. The “devastating” effect that increased hunting would have on the wolf recovery would be discussed. The ranchers would be painted as greedy trespassers on land that rightfully belongs to the wolves who are only doing what wolves naturally do.
See the difference? Note that these stories don’t really need or even want a discussion containing detailed scientific analysis of wolf population and cattle predation, or what type of impact the laws would likely have statistically.
Heros, villains, tragic pictures, and fearful potential outcomes are all you need to keep people watching. The actual facts are relevant only if they build fear or self-righteous indignation (= engagement) in your target audience.
That’s the “news” today.
Coming back to the United States was weird. It took only a matter of a few moments to determine which news source people were watching. It seemed like there were alternate universes existing in the same country. It was disturbing because people were convinced they were right and everyone else was either evil or duped by the bad guys. They instantly dismissed anything coming from other news sources.
I determined that I would do my best not to get sucked into the delusionary environments of cable news. I would try to find sources of information that were dedicated to merely reporting the facts, without a lot of analysis or spin.
In other words, I wanted my news to be boring.
Ad Fontes Media has come up with an analysis of the news that I find helpful. They use pretty sound methodology for rating news sources based on factual reporting and analysis. On the following chart, you will see common news sources ranked. If you are surprised, please read their methodology carefully. It is really well-thought out and objective.
The higher a source scores on the chart, the more its content contains purely facts.
As you drop down the chart, the more analysis and opinion is contained in the news source’s reporting.
Near the bottom of the chart the contant is almost all opinion with relatively low reliability of any “facts” cited.
If all you want is facts, pick the sites near the top of the chart.
Notice that as you move down the chart the more left and right swinging the news sources become. What is happening? Remember, the lower down the chart you go, the more analysis and opinion is contained in the source’s content. In other words, the lower down you go on the chart, the more the source is interested in hooking you into a storyline that has a particular perspective or way of looking at the world. That’s why the reliability of the reporting declines as the partisan content increases.
In other words, “Occupy Democrats” is very left leaning, and its reporting of the factual news is considered to be “selective, incomplete, unfair persuasion, or propaganda”. It is a news source for over 8 million people!
But the same is true on the other side of the political spectrum. Tucker Carlson is a popular Fox News personality watched by over four million people, yet his own employer’s lawyers argued that people should not consider him to be a source of truth!
So the question becomes “are you watching the news to become aware of facts, or have you been sucked into what amounts to a soap opera designed to keep you hyped up and tuned in?
Stick to boring. AP and Reuters online will tell you what is happening with little analysis or opinion mixed in. There are others on the top of the chart you can use as well. You’ll be informed but not propagandized (by the right or the left) who want to tell you what is “really happening” and move quickly away from reporting the facts of the day into weaving a web to keep you watching and spoiling for a fight.
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