I have always been fascinated with the impact of the television news media. With the flip of a channel you’re suddenly catapulted into tears for a man dying of cancer, compelled to buy the hottest new laundry detergent, delivered renewed faith in your President, or paralyzed with fear over your safety. News is powerful and with the tool of visuals, television media is king. Who else do we turn to, almost without question to tell us exactly what to think?

Within the realm of the television media’s interests there lay several key factors that in my final paper I hope to fully explore. They are the television news media’s affinity for selective coverage, or in simpler terms why the media covers what it does and when, the marriage between government and media or asking the question why does so much of what is reported seem to be hand fed by the government, and lastly, the seemingly blurred line between news and advertisements, which I believe will clarify how much influence an advertiser and their corresponding dollars has on what the media stirs up.

The decision of what to have on the news and what does not go on the news is not as simple as what is currently happening in the

The line between news and advertisements has grown less distinct than it was just twenty years ago. These days we regularly see celebrities and Hollywood’s stars featured on the evening news programs. The conspicuous consumption and shopping habits of famous people is regularly shown as entertainment/news. As if Jennifer Lopez’s latest shopping spree was an important national news event, we are left with all the juicy details, many other crucial stories left unsaid. Clearly we are left wanting to emulate this extravagance. Television’s main purpose is to attract viewers and retain their attention for its advertisers. The typical network station airs advertisements for about 25% of it’s programming time. With this weight to carry, it is easy to see why sensationalized news is given air time, while far more critical and social impacting issues are left in the dark.

world. I will look at this from two different perspectives: One, when you see an influx in the coverage of a specific issue it generally does not mean that issue is new or more prevalent. Great examples of this are the increasing interest in Alzheimer’s, young children being kidnapped, pharmaceuticals, etc. During these times of coverage the stories reported are handled as though we are in the midst of an epidemic, when in fact I hope to prove otherw

Some topics in this essay:
Public Opinion, Jennifer Lopez’s, White House, Gulf War, Perspectives Media, television media, Historical Studies, Media Society, station airs, television media’s, line advertisements, press pool, public opinion, white house, control information,