It seems like Bristol Palin has been in the news everyday lately, all because she had a baby when she was a teenager. I looked on CNN the other day, and she was one of the top stories. This is somewhat disconcerting to me. I don’t go to CNN.com to check out what new baby tips Bristol Palin is giving the world. I go to news websites so that I can see whats going on in the world, so that I can get a better grasp on whats going on in other places. Of course, that news is still there, but as my curiosity took the best of me, I clicked on the tab that says “NewsPulse,” and what do I see but six of the top articles being read are about celebrities like Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman and health tips.
We as a society are becoming more and more obsessed with Hollywood and fitness and what we can do to conform to the stereotypes being pressured upon us. Aside from that, Bristol Palin, somebody who isn’t even newsworthy in my opinion, is taking up space on the internet and in our minds, by giving out her “words of wisdom” for single parenting. Are we really entertaining the fact that people are taking parental advice from this girl? And the fact that we think people are genuinely interested in what she has to say is beyond me. It seems to be that health care and governmental policies are taking a back seat in the news world, with diet tips and celebrities making more of a statement. Why is this?
Like yourself, I agree that there is an odd obsession with celebrity news. Not too long ago it seemed as though it was impossible to escape the Tiger Woods scandal that graced every page both online and in paper. It makes you question what is really being read today. It would not surprise me if these celebrity scandals gain more attention than pressing issues throughout the world. In some sense this arouses fear that people are prying so much into someone's personal life, as opposed to a disaster or political unrest in another country. Perhaps the only way to amend this obsession is by taking what we read in journals and newspapers and bringing them into conversation.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't possible agree more. It seems as if the "news", is no longer news. The majority of it is unimportant garbage. If i cared about Bristol Palin and baby tips I would go pick up a tabloid, not go to CNN. I would expect CNN to be a reliable news source and a site that would keep me up-to-date with the important events happening in today's society. It has become a challenge to actually find quality news stories. It seems like everything these days is based around the celebrities and their lives. Our news is polluted.
ReplyDeleteThis issue often crosses my mind as well. It is unsettling to think that our pop culture obsessed society would rather tune in to hear about Bristol Palin being a single mother than hear about what her mother Sarah plan to do to help our country. It was extremely shocking to me when not too long ago the Tiger Woods fiasco was broadcasted on my local news! Either the local reporters ran out of interesting news stories about my town, or the idea of news and information has become confused with that of entertainment.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, most news magazines and websites report so many "irrelevant" news. Sadly not for everyone are these news "irrelevant". They publish them because the audience like them. Society is obsessed with celebrities, artists and gossip. We are the ones encouraging the publishing of these unwanted articles because we have to admit we read them and we like them.
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