RANT AHEAD:
Quite a few times now, I’ve seen the complaint that “the news refuses to cover the story about the migrants’ sinking ship and focuses on the billionaires instead”.
This strikes me as totally unsurprising. 99% of all news sites are given by gathering clicks and eyeballs. The Titan story has it all:
- Billionaires
- Zany CEO with submarine with oddly sourced parts
- Tie in to one of the most famous shipwrecks of all time
- A story that’s technically easy to understand (the sub went underwater and was lost, you don’t need a degree in advanced physics to appreciate this)
- Some drama because they might have been underwater without oxygen vs. instantly dead due to decompression
- The possibility of an exciting sea rescue
vs the migrants’ story
- No one famous or of note on board
- This is by far NOT the first vessel lost in this manner
- No exciting twists
I’m sorry, but if I headed up a news room OF COURSE you will run the first story. It’s simply more exciting. This is NOT an example of class war or a personal vendetta against the poor.
If you are one of those who think the migrants story should be more closely followed why don’t YOU lead a discussion about it, volunteer your money and/or time to organizations that support migrants, etc.
It’s also a really boring complaint to see, because nearly ALL of the major news outlets DID cover the story, but guess what, it is far less engaging, so it gets less attention overall.
Don’t blame the news for what stories get big – blame the public and their fascination with these stories. The news outlets are only putting out what their audience wants to see.
Feel free to start a site that talks only about migration issues, but I think you’ll find it way harder to make money vs talking about clickbait.
Yeah, news doesn’t cover the most important things, it covers the most interesting/provocative things
I don’t think it’s fair to call media that doesn’t specialize in news stories “the news”. Such outlets are more like a life style magazine in my experience. At least when I stop by their websites.
If you are able to even read the stories between all the ads loading and shifting the view page.
I haven’t been able to browse the internet without an ad-blocker for a long time.
Exactly!!! They don’t care about social causes, etc. They just want the most clicks on their clickbait headlines. Simple as. If there was some crazy twist to the migrant story, like Hunter Biden being on board or something it would have dominated the headlines. The main sin of the migrants was not being clickbaity enough.
Nothing to add but well said.
Migrant boats constantly sink and the migrants constantly die. Although it is callous to say it is boring news because of how often it happens. My countries news cycle usually throw it in the mix for a few days out of the year.
arguing over whether media (it is NOT news) covers an issue or not is like arguing over whether a children’s story is factual. And to defend these media sites like they do not have an agenda is also just as stupid.
