RAISING THE LEVEL

Why simple stories in the aid world sell but shouldn’t.

TONY BLAIR CRITIQUES the MEDIA

This past Tuesday England’s Prime Minister Tony Blair gave one of his last speeches before he leaves office at the end of June. He said a few things in particular that I feel hit the issue right on the head, and I would argue that the media in the US is much worse than England and Europe. Here’s the excerpt:

Blair discusses the negatives of recent changes in the media industry, including 24 hour news, the rise of internet news and its affect on traditional news.

Here’s the excerpt (from the International Herald Tribune):

“The [media] are not the masters of this change but its victims… The result is a media that increasingly and to a dangerous degree is driven by ‘impact.’ Impact is what matters. It is all that can distinguish, can rise above the clamor, can get noticed. Impact gives competitive edge. Of course, the accuracy of a story counts. But it is secondary to impact.”

This is the reason why I refuse to watch TV news in the US. Even CNN has become all about ratings, and if news is on 24 hours a day the channel resorts to sensationalism in order to attract enough viewers. The whole Paris Hilton in jail saga has really exposed this issue. (Even Conan O’Brien discussed this with his guest last night, Tim Russet from Meet the Press.) CNN spent more time on Paris Hilton than any other news story. Any story about Paris will probably bring in more viewers, but shouldn’t there be one news channel that is committed to reporting real news?