Happy Dia De Los Muertos everyone! Well, Dia de los Inocentes, but November 1st and 2nd are both really Dia de los Muertos, because dead kids are still dead.
Anyway. Let's talk about the media.
Yesterday in class we discussed briefly the media's role in what people deem as "threats". I said that the media can never be balanced.
And it can't. Media's job isn't to be unbiased, it's to pay the bills. Sensationalism means higher ratings and larger profits. So, how best to create sensationalism? Play off people's fears.
What's more terrifying? Being attacked by a shark or being diagnosed with cancer? While cancer is pretty frightening, being ripped apart by a shark a la Jaws (which is what you automatically think of when you think shark attack, isn't it?) is more terrifying on a visceral level. If a shark attacks you, you can't do a whole lot. Getting cancer, at least you can do something.
The point is, even though you are much more likely to die from cancer, if there is a sudden "upswing" in shark attacks, guess which story gets covered more. Same goes with terrorist attacks, SARS, avian flu, mad cow disease...things that are not a common happening. The unusual sells. The same ol', same ol' (aka: cancer, AIDs, car crashes, heart disease, poverty, starvation) is boring, because it happens all the time. Thousands of people die from cancer, car crashes, poverty, starvation, AIDs, whatever, everyday! That's not news! That's just life! (and death)
Life, sad to say, is generally boring. And what better way to increase ratings than to sensatilonize marginal threats (meaning, in all likelihood, you are not going to be on a plane that gets hijacked by terrorists; meaning, in all likelihood, you will not eat meat contaminated by mad cow disease)...to place what unusual and dangerous as a "very plausible, even quite probable" part of your life? The media are experts at creating irrational fear, and making it appear rational.
Isn't that a happy thought?
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