Media Focus
by Tom Buchanan
Tuesday, January 23, 2007

What the media is good at is focusing on bad news because it is out of the norm and it makes for attention grabbing headlines. For instance, there are no reports that 40,000 houses did not have a house fire, but when one does it makes the news. Should we all take to living in tents because someone's house burned down and the occupants died?

Millions of children go to school everyday and when they learn and achieve according to plan nothing gets reported, but when a child is kidnapped or shot the whole country knows about it within minutes. Should we jump to the conclusion that schools are killing zones and we should withdraw our children from the combat area?

Why is the media not focusing on the good things that happen in Iraq? Is it because these are the things that go on day after day in Iraq and the violence is out of the norm and is worthy of comment by the press?

Do the out of the normal media reports serve to fuel the flames of people and the assumption is made that since this is only what is reported it must be only what is going on in Iraq?

Good news just does not sell, because good news is not news. Most of our lives are full of good news and it is the bad news that sticks out like the proverbial sore thumb. That is what gets reported.

I think it is time that we really focus on the fact that the media is reporting the unusual because that is what sells. Perhaps we will train ourselves to be critical and look at a story from the media's viewpoint and realize that "If it bleeds, it leads".

Email Tom