We Get the Media We Deserve

It’s true. Some of this mess is on us.

I said we get the government we deserve. We also get the media we deserve.

People say they want ‘real’ news—coverage of important world problems and political issues that matter instead of dumbed down, sensational partisan coverage combined with celebrity dirty laundry. The numbers say the opposite.

There’s unrest and hostility in the middle east and around the world, an uncertain situation in Russia and the Ukraine, budget negotiations in Congress, the global economic situation and more but what do we see on the news? Justin Bieber’s arrest, Miley Cyrus’ VMA performance/new song/new video/new haircut/new Instagram selfie/new outfit and other celeb-fascination nonsense all across TV (CNN, MSNBC, Fox) and the Internet (Gawker, TMZ, etc.). When we do see coverage of important events, it’s so partisan and imbued with agendas that it does more harm to the population’s understanding than good.

The business mastermind’s behind these folks know what they’re doing. Again, they’re preying upon us click-happy gawkers.

This is what we consume; this is what we want. Or at least enough of us. For every person who shares a plea decrying the media blowing past ‘real news’ to tell us Jennifer Lawrence got a haircut, there are dozens more that will compulsively click, watch, consume and comment on whether or not the pixie cut fits her.

Media is a business. CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, CBS and all compete for ratings, i.e. eyeballs on the screen. Their online presences compete with other online media outlets for eyeballs and clicks. That’s how they stay in business and make money. If they don’t make money, they don’t exist. So they give us what’s sure to attract eyeballs and clicks. Sadly, what attracts eyeballs and clicks is disheartening and, quite frankly, and embarrassing indictment on American culture.

There was a wonderful, satirical op-ed in The Onion a while back regarding CNN.com’s coverage of Miley Cyrus’ VMA performance by Meredith Artley, managing editor of CNN.com. It acknowledged that there was nothing newsworthy or important about the teddy bear assisted twerk-a-thon, but pointed out the astronomical traffic that it drove to CNN.com. That’s Ms. Artley’s job—to drive traffic to CNN.com. It’s not CNN’s fault, it’s ours because we mindlessly clicked.

Of course, that is an Onion article, so it wasn’t real. That’s a shame because it’s the closest thing to truth to come from the media in a long time.

[Aside: Do you notice anything different about the text “teddy bear assisted twerk-a-thon?” It’s underlined. That’s called a hyperlink. Look at it there, just seducing you to click on it. Go ahead, I dare you: Don’t click on it.]

The certifiably insane supernatural, black hole, zombie Lost style coverage of the missing Malaysian airliner skyrocketed ratings for CNN. Obviously, they’re giving the people what the want. As CNN President Jeff Zucker explains “The Audience Has Spoken” and Climate change coverage bores our audience. Zucker acknowledges that many important stories “deserve more attention” but he’s “merely following the ratings.” I’d love for the Meredith Artley Onion article to be real; I guess I’ll have to settle for this. There’s no indication that Zucker is the least bit ashamed. And he shouldn’t be; he’s doing what he was hired to do. We’re the ones who should be ashamed.

In a perfect world, news organizations and journalists would NOT give us what we want, but rather what is important, productive and worthwhile. But, as I’m sure you can tell, we don’t live in a perfect world. In our world, news has to compete for our attention with cat videos, celebrity scandals and ‘Which Gossip Girl character are you?’ quizzes. So, the news has to seduce you to get your attention.

Resist the siren song.

#StayCritical, fellow citizens.

Justin Lyon is a former high school math teacher and Founder of Critical, a project to make critical thinking and real world problem solving based learning feasible and scalable in education and advocate for more thoughtfulness in society in general.