Are we willing to pay for boring but true news or sensational, headline-grabbing news?

Over the years many have resulted to blaming conspiracy theory spouting channels and news channels that no longer attempt to be unbiased or neutral, for the awful state of today’s society, where truth is a long discarded concept

If you’ve ever read a boring novel, you’ll know that it is rarely one that you save on your bedside shelf for a re-read. It’s the same with news; few will tune in to a factual, truthful channel that isn’t pandering to one wing of society or the other. Viewership dictates the value of the advertising slots or the merchandise (e.g. copies of publications sold) and truth and accuracy are no longer (or perhaps, have never been?) the measure. But never in history, has it become so blatant.

We naively expect pundits and commentators on TV to be objective and truthful, but if they are, we are bored. So, they get whacky and whackier, we stay tuned and keep watching. The more extreme they get, the higher the viewership. No different from 3rd century BC when crowds filled arenas to watch gladiators maul each other and get mauled right? Throw in the occasional lion or tiger, to draw in a few more spectators and the elite satisfy the peasants, everybody is a winner! Not much has changed over the centuries. It is society: we, us, you & I, that create the conducive environment for these situations to thrive. Be it the gladiator mauling of the 3rd century BC, today’s biased news channels who no longer attempt to put neutral facts out or indeed the harmful social media channels that bear a fair portion of responsibility for what their viewers get up to, but refuse to take any action to address hate, self-harm etc.

All these channels, magazines etc., are funded by us. No business thrives without customers. Society can never reach a unanimous consensus on anything and THAT, is what fuels those businesses and will forever do.

I know a chap who never owned a television. His kids never watched telly and they only had access to the internet to complete their school work, over very short time periods. They were largely oblivious to all the hate and madness out there, but such sheltering could also lead to naïveté. Seems to be a much preferred balance though…