A decline in media trust equals a decline in media viewership

Ill have to agree with Jeanie that there is not one party responsible for the shift in news values, it is the fault of both the media and the public for allowing the shift from hard news to entertainment news to happen. However, as a 21 year old and a future entertainment journalist, i think that this trend is prepetuated further by the growing mistrust of the media outlets themselves. Corporate media outlets are first and foremost a business and with that comes certain agendas. If a spot about nipple covers will garner more viewers and rate higher than an update on condoleeza rice's whereabouts, then you can bet that these light, entertainment stories will continue to eat up more air time.

Another factor that is directly related with the decline of hard news viewers is what Mindich calls complacency, or the feeling of uselessness and irrelevance to the democratic process. Many young people today dont vote and admittedly dont care about politics and elections because they feel like their vote doesnt matter. This then drives them away from political or governmental news, which makes up nearly the whole newscast (except for a spot on nipple covers :)

I can easily see how many young Americans feel this way, especially after the 2000 election when al gore won the popular vote but not the electoral vote and was defeated. It leaves one wondering why even vote if what is seemingly popular to the American people can be overridden if its not popular with the "higher ups" in Washington? After that, the infamously dirty and cutthroat election of 2004 besmeared the image of the 'clean and honorable politician' and drained any remaining faith from young voters.

These two recent elections alone are enough for me to understand why many young people have abandoned the typical newscast and opted for lighter entertaining stories. Its not suprising to me that young people are becoming what Mindich calls "thin citizens", in that they often do not engage in the democratic process and "only follow the outlines of democracy."

Entertainment vs. News

In Tuned Out, Mindich begins by asking how the balance between entertainment and news has shifted over time.

As one who follows the news on a fairly regular basis, I would argue that entertainment values are beginning (if they haven’t already) to override basic news values.

Just look at CNN.com. There is at least one entertainment story a day that makes it into their “most popular” read category. Today, the entertainment story “Nipple covers, other star secrets” ranked number 7, while the story about Condoleezza Rice meeting with Jordan’s king ranked number 9.

It is disappointing that CNN.com readers would rather read about nipple covers than what the U.S. Secretary of State is doing in Jordan, but stars and their undergarments can be more entertaining than politics and certainly easier to understand. But what will affect us on a higher level tomorrow- nipple covers or peace plans that the U.S. is supporting in other countries?

Sometimes I opt for the more entertaining stories because I do not understand foreign policy or I have trouble seeing how it affects me. I think this is one reason that people (especially younger readers and viewers) do not follow the news on a regular basis.
Our society is extremely self-absorbed and self-serving. Why read about Jordan or Iraq when we can entertain ourselves by surfing Facebook or MySpace? (Let’s be honest- who spends more time reading the news than they do looking at online profiles?)

I think it is the fault of both the media and the public for allowing values to shift from news to entertainment. The media expects too much from the public and the public expects too little from the media. Or is it ok for entertainment to be valued more than news? I would argue no, but I am only one future journalist who thinks the media has a little more explaining to do.