At the 2022 Academy Awards, actor Will Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock across the face onstage. This was a response to a joke Chris Rock made about Will Smith’s wife. This dramatic moment, rather than the actual awards, was the focus of the news the next day. One NPR article called it an “angry outburst of machismo.” A New York Times headline read, “Onstage Slap Rattles Oscars.” 

Online news and 24-hour news channels have increased the demand on contemporary media for attention-grabbing stories. Often they use shock value and fear to guide their reporting. A common phrase in newsrooms is, “If it bleeds, it leads,” meaning the more horrible a story is, the more people will want to watch or read about it in the news. Sometimes news outlets will place a heavier emphasis on a frivolous story about a celebrity than on a serious event that affects thousands of other people, like a supreme court case.

Many people believe that journalism has abandoned its job of reporting news to exploit a public more interested in “clickbait,” or shocking or strange headlines that make people curious enough to click on them. What is more relevant to report to the public – that a new voting rights law has been passed or that a famous person had a baby? The way people consume news is changing even more rapidly now that 50% of Americans get their news headlines from social media. Since these sites do not have to regulate what users see as news, it is also more difficult for people to tell the difference between real news and fake news. A Stanford University study found that most students had trouble telling which internet news stories were trustworthy, often relying on whether a story was “popular” or high in the search results. 

News organizations say they have to make the news more exciting so that people will watch or read it. They point out that many Americans would not pay attention to the news if they were not interested in an entertaining story. Once the news catches a person’s attention, they may stay tuned in and learn about important worldwide issues and events. Therefore, some say that attention-grabbing stories actually help make sure the public is aware of important news. 

What do you think? Have news organizations abandoned their responsibility to educate the public about important current events? Or are they just giving us more of the news that we really want?