News Media, Money and Infotainment Essay -- Television Media TV Essays

News Media, Money and Infotainment In the past few years the media has grown into more than just the facts. The goal of the media is not just to inform us but to entertain. This new media style is known as "Infotainment". The media's goals are ratings based. They use shows like Jerry Springer, Entertainment Tonight, and Hard Copy to bring in these ratings. The media of today has grown into a profit-based industry that tries to entertain us with the news and with tabloid television shows. In the late 1980s and early 1990s the three big television stations, of ABC, CBS, and NBC, changed to provide more infotainment. Networks lost ratings to the heavy competition of cable and home video. The diminishing audience caused the big three to just break even or make a tiny profit. This led to the news having topics such as issues in the entertainment world and art related stories produce a rating increase. The industry was no longer news based. Their goal over those few years had changed from reporting the news into shows that report what bring in a profit. What brought in the biggest audience was what was shown on the networks. When the rating for these shows were being taken there was an increase in the reporting of sex and violence to increase the viewers. This in tern increased the ratings (Cook 4-5). The new form of news was shaped based on how to bring in the biggest audience and make the most money whatever the cost. This new form of infotainment led to the development of Tabloid television shows. These shows, also known as "Trash TV", have more entertainment than news. Thought there is a difference between good and bad trash. With shows like Sally Jesse Raphael, Geraldo Rivera, and Jerry Springer that in many cases exploi... ...ed media world is set up to be infotaining. These shows attracting viewers with tabloid shows and putting more entertaining information in the news. The networks are trying to make the biggest profit possible and with shows that exploit people they seem to be doing it. It doesn't mater who it hurts or what the consequences are. It's no longer just reporting the news, but reporting what will bring in the biggest profit. WORKS CITED Cook, Philip S., Douglass Gomery, and Lawrence W. Lichty, ed. The Future of News. Washington: The Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 1992. Olster, Marjorie. "Raunchy radio host Stern to get late-night TV show." Infobeat. Online. Electronic Text Center. Internet. 31 Mar. 1998. Available http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2553562895-d94 Talked To Death. Videocassette. Home Box Office. Parco Productions, Inc., 1996. VHS. 60min