National Media News Stories

[I-10east]

I'm gonna go in deep with this one, so if you have thin skin, you might wanna skip this read LOL. I truly wonder what in the hell qualifies a story to be an American national media worthy? These various different national media stories go viral very quickly; Within a snap of a finger, a story of plastered all over the America's local news', and on your desktop computer and cell phone.

We all know the stereotypical buzzworthy types of stories in America, and I've grown to accept them whether I hate them or not.

* The obligatory zoo animal (sometimes not a rare animal) born at the San Diego Zoo somewhere.

* When a Wheel of Fortune contestant solve the puzzle with only one letter revealed.

* A bear on the loose, or an alligator in the pool

* A 'racial incident' involving a black victim and a white aggressor.

* A cute little white girl missing in Temecula, CA somewhere, opposed to a cute little black girl in St Louis.

* Celebrity info (ranging anything from awards to passing away).

* Barbarians in the Middle East executing captives.

* Weather in the Northeast.

I can go on and on, but you get the gist...

To keep it kinda short, the lastest very weird 'WTF, why is this gone national?' story involves a non celebrity; A Las Vegas woman shot in a road rage incident. Even though this is tragic, shouldn't that be kept on the local level and not gone national? From the reports, her and her son was out looking for the guy (shooter). Very weird national story...

Like I said earlier, I don't know what qualifies as a national story anymore. I'm sure that Columbus, OH would really care that a gorilla was recently born at the Jacksonville Zoo... The Las Vegas incident on the upper link, and Bill Maher's 'New Rules' last Friday talking about the national media stories on the bottom link.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/las-vegas-road-rage-shooting-police-suspect-custody/story?id=29082829

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XqnMiVw8Xw

[spuwho]

Reflections of the culture of a bored nation.

[I-10east]

^^^I agree.

[Charles Hunter]

Bread and Circuses (without the bread) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_and_circuses

[KenFSU]

I'm gonna go in deep with this one, so if you have thin skin, you might wanna skip this read LOL. I truly wonder what in the hell qualifies a story to be an American national media worthy? These various different national media stories go viral very quickly; Within a snap of a finger, a story of plastered all over the America's local news', and on your desktop computer and cell phone.

We all know the stereotypical buzzworthy types of stories in America, and I've grown to accept them whether I hate them or not.

* The obligatory zoo animal (sometimes not a rare animal) born at the San Diego Zoo somewhere.

* When a Wheel of Fortune contestant solve the puzzle with only one letter revealed.

* A bear on the loose, or an alligator in the pool

* A 'racial incident' involving a black victim and a white aggressor.

* A cute little white girl missing in Temecula, CA somewhere, opposed to a cute little black girl in St Louis.

* Celebrity info (ranging anything from awards to passing away).

* Barbarians in the Middle East executing captives.

* Weather in the Northeast.

I can go on and on, but you get the gist...

To keep it kinda short, the lastest very weird 'WTF, why is this gone national?' story involves a non celebrity; A Las Vegas woman shot in a road rage incident. Even though this is tragic, shouldn't that be kept on the local level and not gone national? From the reports, her and her son was out looking for the guy (shooter). Very weird national story...

Like I said earlier, I don't know what qualifies as a national story anymore. I'm sure that Columbus, OH would really care that a gorilla was recently born at the Jacksonville Zoo... The Las Vegas incident on the upper link, and Bill Maher's 'New Rules' last Friday talking about the national media stories on the bottom link.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/las-vegas-road-rage-shooting-police-suspect-custody/story?id=29082829

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XqnMiVw8Xw

For better or worse, mass media is a business, not a public service. The types of stories aren't featured because CNN or Buzzfeed or the Huffington Post are pushing a particular agenda (not that they aren't, at times). They are featured because the key metrics indicate that they create virality and drive business.

With social shares becoming exponentially more important to media outlets, I would look for it to get better before it gets worse.

Look at Metro Jacksonville, for example. For all of the amazing, unique, researched content that this site produces annually, it's the stories like "Top Ten Restaurants!" and "Top Ten Tips for Jacksonville Daters!" that keep the lights on.

Truth is, for every click an in-depth expose on the AIDS epidemic or essay on income inequality will get, a beheading video/baby giraffe/Las Vegas road rage shooting/Kayne West indiscretion feature will get 10,000.

We largely have ourselves to blame.

If you're curious to learn more about why national media outlets run with certain stories, there's a really great book called Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger.

Berger has studied tens of thousands of similar stories and isolated six key factors (acronym STEPPS) that cause stories to gain traction/virality/$$$:

Social Currency:
Triggers:
Ease for Emotion:
Public:
Practical Value:
Stories

Not enough coffee in my system to dive into each factor, but again, super interesting book if you have the time