As stated in the well named, but blunt article, “Man Shoots
Self Fatally on Live Tv after AZ Car Chase,” news covers these sorts of stories
for a momentary boost in ratings. However, as evident in the outcome of this
certain car chase, filming and broadcasting live car chases to get ratings may
have severe consequences. It may have value to show car chases live for such
reasons as seeing how good the police are at doing their job, getting some
entertainment out of someone breaking the law when you happen to be bored, or
for critiquing what the person did wrong and figuring out how to seamlessly steal
a car. Regardless of the reason new stations decide to broadcast a live car
chase, the real reason and motive for showing it is for the ratings. Ratings
equal money, and they mean that the news stations competitor has one less
person watching their new broadcast.
New broadcasts showing things like this shows that the news
is obsessed more with showing the bad in the world and allowing the driver to
have a few moments of fame, (though in this case the driver would never know
that he did get his fifteen minutes if fame). News broadcasts need not be all
sunshine and smiles, there are harsh realities that happen every day that
should not be ignored, but the news needs ensure that if children are watching
the news with their parents that they will not be witnessing things that will
damage them. Personally, I avoid the news for this reason. When I watch the
news, it always tends to highlight the negative things going on in the
community, nation, and world. I think news stations have found a niche and are
stuck. With so much that goes wrong in the world it would be nice to hear about
the good.
I agree with your point on people watching these events as a form of entertainment. I think that people watching these chases are already looking for something entertaining to watch on TV and only stop to watch because the chase could be the most entertaining thing on TV at that time. Television programming during the daytime is a bit boring, and I have noticed that networks will not air car chases in the middle of the night during prime time programming. As far as news channels being responsible for having a bad impact on children, I would say that falls under the responsibility of the parents. Parents should ensure that children are not exposed to adult issues, and if they are, parents should talk to their children and explain what it is that they saw. There are no external factors that can influence our children that cannot be overcome by a parent’s conversation with their children.
ReplyDeleteThere are still good honest broadcasters out there, they've just been drowned out by an oversaturated shock market. People love watching things like this. And if they don't no doubt they will be appalled enough to show everyone they know what they just witnessed. It's the viral age we live in now and images like this, regardless of how depressing and uncool it is to see, still gets shown to a massive audience behind the television. It just goes with the times that were in.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, this does equal money due to the ratings. However there is all those people who get offended and start sueing everyone who had to do with this showing and I definetly agree with you that the majority of the news are all negative which kind of upset me. We watch the news to inform ourselves about what is going on in the world and may be we even watch it to forget a little about our own problems and think about other things that will distract us. However, we are faced to more negative information rather than seeing more positive news that will give us hope for our society and world.
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