Britney Spears-A.P. Britney Spears-Fox News Britney Spears-ABC
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Britney Spears-UK Britney Spears-China Britney Spears-CBS Britney Spears-National Ledger Britney Spears-Australia ....
So yesterday's media storm over Britney Spears unfortunate lack of maturity and decorum practically brought down the ProgressiveU server but it also strained the limits of cyberspace too. ALmost as many articles and porn sites and pictures as when she posed nude last spring. Of course there's lots of fun satire and good old-fashioned snark too.
BUt the last twenty-four hours has shown me exactly why the mass media reverts back to entertainment over hard news. It's made it clear that that's what people swarm too--right or wrong--it's what brings in the money for them.
At progressiveu, it's a combination of opinion, entertainment, politics, school...whatever the blogger wants. The same is true for the mass media. When you're paid to get more viewers so you can get more advertisers, you tend to go where the money is. And blogs get rated by how many views. For those of us here competing for the scholarship money, the 'reads' or views increase our odds of winning.
Of course, I would prefer not to post on Britney but I'm a college student with 2 jobs and school. The scholarship money does make a difference to me (as well as most people here!). Perhaps progressiveu may develop an entertainment site that's separate from the political site or develop different scoring criteria but it's their choice.
However, the mainstream media uses public airwaves that we pay for. So should they be obligated to separate hard news from opinion-based news, from entertainment?
I often hear the complaint that "You can't get real news anymore. It's all about missing blonds or some stupid star."
Is it time to force media to separate shows into specific genres?
What do you think?
http://progressiveu.org/014047-britney-spears-over-exposure-crotchless-panties-run-amock
http://progressiveu.org/135503-britney-spears-fit-parent
http://progressiveu.org/032922-britneys-crotch-exposing-scandal-should-she-be-charged-with-indecent-exposure
***The thing is, if you control the Senate meetings, you control the gavel. And the gavel is a very important instrument... an instrument of power. An instrument that establishes the agenda.
Dan Quayle former Republican VP of George Bush Sr***
Fair media. Label opinion as opinion. Question 'spin' from both parties. Stick to facts not interpretation. And entertainment time should be limited to 5 minutes an hour on all news channels.
Good post. It makes sense why so many people are posting about her, and why they care so much. I guess it is easier for our society to dwell on how much weight Britney has gained rather than the upcoming presidential election because that takes too much effort. We want things to be simple, we want to focus on the problems of other people, to take the focus off of ourselves, to laugh at the pitfalls of others, not have to agonize over which presidential canidate has our best interests in mind. It's just a theory, but I suspect there's some truth in it, and that is the sad world we live in today.