91% of US news about Covid topics was negative – even when reporting on positive vaccine developments or low case counts in schools. The media learned that consumers demand negativity – I postulate this is because consumers who are suffering from hysteria and anxiety seek out news that confirms their anxiety, and that being anxious is okay.
Business news reporters, who generally do a good job, also admit they believe “unfavorable articles were more likely to attract readers”. The result, across all news media, is that the news focuses on negativity and what is perceived as wrong with the world. There is rarely, ever, good news. This results in entire societies living in an unnecessary culture of perpetual outrage, fear and anxiety. This is not healthy.
People are photographing others in public, who have sores on their skin, and then posting these pictures or videos online, accusing them of having monkeypox and being in public. They don’t have monkeypox – they have other non-infectious conditions. Can social media users stoop any lower?
Cable “news” long ago morphed into entertainment with celebrity reporters and anchors, more interested in flaming emotions than informing you. The result is to divide society into angry camps. U.S. media has devolved to such an extent that it is hazardous to everyone and to the country. The latest round, with CNN’s firing of Chris Cuomo is just that – yet another round where these clowns were caught. This is what they are now – clowns.
“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.”