Questioning the Media Ch. 8

Q1: What kinds of stories, topics, or issues are not being covered well by mainstream papers?


A: Mainstream papers today are only focused on whatever will sell. That is why information or news that certain groups would find interesting are not published to the mass media. Publishers are looking for whatever the most people will find interesting so that they will buy the papers. Topics like this include, foreign sports, small town oddities, and historical documents. Foreign sports would not sell because people are only concerned with what is in their culture. Whats going on across seas may be a sport not even known about in the US, therefore has no effect on Americans. Small town oddities are great for local newspapers, but people would not be able to relate to them through huge mainstream papers. Finally, people are only concerned about what is happening in the present, hence the term news paper, and would seek other sources of historical information.


Q2: Why do you think people aren't reading newspapers as frequently as they once did? What can newspapers do to increase circulation?

A: With all of the modern forms of news today, people do not need only to resort to newspapers. Back in the day, newspapers were the only form of communication that could get information out to the public. Sporting events could not be watched on TV, they had to be read about in the papers, unless one could actually attend. The same goes for any breaking news, whether it be politics, sports, business, or just big events. Today's technology not only allows us to bring a live news feed in to our living rooms with TV and radio, but with a click of a button in the office we can see the latest world updates. Newspapers can serve as a portable news device, but other means of communication are cheaper and require virtually no material. In order to increase circulation, I feel that newspapers could just broadcast certain stories in their articles rather than allowing them to be told via other means of communication. This would allow for people to have to buy newspapers to hear about certain events.


Q3: Discuss whether newspaper chains are ultimately good or bad for the future of journalism.

A: Newspapers tend to be biased and to not always tell the full story. In order to sell, they must contain credible information but it must be interesting for an audience. This type of information tends to become talked up by writers in order to make it sound more dramatic to readers. Also, sometimes a writer's opinion comes into play, depending on his or her views, and the general views of the newspaper. Newspaper chains could all carry similar values with them bringing readers a one sided story across the board. Though some people may find that a certain paper has validity, it story may differ from another. If an oligopoly emerges in newspapers, they could virtually control the news being reported. The small time news papers can sometimes be most reliable as they are not always just trying to sell papers, but relay news in a reliable form.