one more thing

[spitfire1940]

most news storys are about negative stuff because that's what interests us as human beings.

Just look at this bulletin board. Do we discuss the thousands of planes that land safely every day? The thousands of pilots who go about their jobs every day? The normal ebb and flow of life?

No. Mainly, what grabs our attention and gets us talking is stuff like "psycho" F/As setting their planes on fire, an RJ making a hard landing somewhere or a B1900 crashing into a hanger and killing everyone on board.

The media is a business and people (you, me, everyone) are not going to buy a newspaper or watch a show (making a profit for the owner: the motive for everything) about happy normal stuff.

also, a lot of what happens in the world just plain sucks. Getting blown out of your truck in Baghdad by an RPG-toting raghead really is a crappy way to leave this planet. But having your countrymen ignore your death because it doesn't make them "feel happy" or doesn't reflect positively on the president probably sucks even more.

 

[enigma]

The media is a business and people (you, me, everyone) are not going to buy a newspaper or watch a show (making a profit for the owner: the motive for everything) about happy normal stuff.

Man that's a cop out. It's like a drug dealer saying that his business is OK, because he is only supplying what the people demand. The popularity of Rush Limbaugh, continues to prove that people will support a positive approach. For those that don't believe that Rush is positive, I might as well disagree now. Rush may well be the most positive national personality today. He believes in hard work, personal responsibility, and holds the firm belief that anyone can succeed. I find that much more positive than the stand that some can't succeed with out a "helping hand", etc. Unlike some rightwing "doom and gloomers", who think that liberals are sending the country to hades in a handbasket, Rush believes that the country will succeed and be greater than ever. Some may not agree with his position, but you can't argue that he is positive in his beliefs; most importantly, his enormous long term popularity proves that people are hungry for something other than "bad news"

regards,
enigma

 

[spitfire1940]

enigma,

i started that thread by accident. it was supposed to be part of a multi-answer reply on another thread. Anyway, glad you saw it and replied.

I think Rush's popularity has a lot to do with his personality and his genre--the talk format. Of course, his positive approach is just as critical.

Also, I was referring more to what journalists call "hard" news---something that just happened, like Sammy Sosa setting a home-run record, or Jacques Chirac getting hit by a taxi or U.S. troops getting ambushed in Iraq.

There is actually lots of positive news in newspapers and on TV (along with lots of celebrity bullcrap, and just plain informative stuff like columns about gardening).

But the reason there is so much negative news is because lots of negative stuff happens. We have the laws of entropy to deal with, the world is an imperfect place, man's basic nature is sinful.

It's up to us to draw conclusions out of all that.

And the media, especially TV, does all kinds of stupid stuff--like covering the OJ trial in such depth, or doing so much about Jon Benet Ramsey (however you spell it).

But I'm telling you, no matter how many people listen to Rush, there's millions of others who want the latest dirt on the pregnant woman who was murdered in California or the latest on Ben and Jaylo.

The media gives people what it think they wants. Period.
You can call that a cop out, but it's not MY cop out. That's the way it is.

Don Henley summed it up pretty good: "it's interesting when people die, give us dirty laundry."

 

[Gulfstream 200]

ah, yeah.

I would much rather look at JayLos butt then look at that ugly windbag RUSH. There are many on the conservative side who think that guys a jacka$$!