Don’t Believe The Hype: Is Sensationalist News Becoming More Common?
News is everywhere. From the broadsheets to the tabloids, the major television networks to the dedicated 24hr news channels, the Twitter feeds of journalists to the TikTok content by anyone interested in reporting what is going on around them, it is almost impossible to escape the incessant torrents of news and notifications.
In many ways, this global access and the technology and industry that allows us the opportunity to stay informed about events around the corner or around the world is useful and enjoyed by millions.
In other ways, however, it can be overwhelming and not necessarily what we need all day every day.
With more and more news outlets comes the competition to ensure that people use you as either their primary and trusted source for news updates or at least one of them. Whether that is measured in telecast ratings or the number of clicks and downloads a particular story garner, the world of news is ultra-competitive, which also has its own implications and ramifications to consider.
The media is a powerful force that encompasses everything from politics to economics, sports to celebrity gossip and everything in-between, making it universally relevant.
Considering how unrelenting the news is, how much of the breaking news or top story banner headline content is now lurching into the realm of sensationalism and overhyped exaggeration? Whether it is to get those all-important clicks for a news story or entice someone who loves sports news and is betting on football odds to make a larger wager, sensationalism can be a major marketing force.
Does this mean that the hype around the news is being deliberately engineered? Again, not an easy question to answer, though it is certainly an easy one to investigate.
When How The News Is Reported Becomes The News
Since the dawn of the internet, the explosion of online news channels and websites and the global evolution of social media, how news is reported has become both more varied as well as, in some cases, more questionable or at the very least, more varied and variable.
From local interest pieces to the more national news and stories, as well as international ones, we often see the same news item being reported in a multitude of ways.
Whether it is an editorial decision or a commercial choice, news has become open to reporting styles that can often become newsworthy in themselves.
It has been said by more than one newsreader in history that they should never be the story, they should merely be the messenger. This utterance is often part of a resignation predicated on a story where they themselves are the center of the scandal, and a classic example of when the way a news story is reported is part of the news itself. Another contributing factor to this issue is the growing number of fake news stories or breaking news that is later discredited.
Both of these have led to news networks or platforms becoming the story, as their rush to report has seen a drop in journalistic standards. Sometimes, it is a mistaken report, other times it is fake news deliberately confected to encourage viewers, clicks, or continue a sensationalism or hype that was simply manufactured in the first place.
Whichever it is, the traditional ethos and mantra still stands; those who present or print the news, the online platforms that release it, or the networks that broadcast it should never become the news, they should only ever be responsible for reporting it.
Sensationalism As Standard: Do Consumers Now Accept It Or Ignore It?
There is such a thing as being desensitized to something, being exposed to it so much that it has become a non-event, something that can be easily ignored, or its relevance reduced to that of nothing. For some, the often-constant stream of sensationalized headlines, the hyperbolic banner content, and the vastly over-hyped rhetoric that comes from various parts of the media is now simply white noise.
This could be due to reaching saturation point with news notifications in general, especially on mobile devices and on the go. It could also be due to the fact that sensationalism is now a mainstream media tactic or policy, or a mix of both.
Whatever the reason for news consumers and audiences accepting or ignoring the more sensational style of headline, though of course there are many that do love this style of reporting, it is an interesting development.
From online news sites to apps, networks to news independents, there is a fine line to be found between an eye-catching, attention engaging headline and one that is so over the top as to be laughable even if it does get an initial reaction. But how many times do those in charge cross the line?
As we attempt to reach some kind of conclusion on whether sensationalist news is becoming more common, it is hard to be definitive. Though there are more instances to be found, we must also consider that fact that there are far more outlets, platforms, networks, apps, and social media platforms creating headlines and distributing the news.
Perhaps if we were to see how many overhyped stories there were in the heady days of tabloid supremacy, we would see that this has always been common practice but then again, maybe not.
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