As a journalist you are often faced with the dilemma behind your decision to post a story. After all, every journalist has a public service mission to tell stories, whether it is to inform the public or not. On one hand you are a representative of a news organization and therefore, want to create as many hits, clicks and views as possible. By increasing the amount of traffic you receive through a website, publication or television broadcast, it is important to first create a story, and it is more crucial to captivate viewers and maintain an audience.
As a journalist you have a difficult decision to make. Although you want to create as much viewership as possible, it is important to inform your audience. If you choose to upload informative, “important” content you could compromise your news organization’s business because you are risking losing a viewer’s attention and further lessening your profitability.
On average, news organizations are noticing the trend of posting exciting, sensationalized content to attract more business. The greater the viewership the greater the revenue and advertisement profit. According to a news study conducted by stateofthemedia.org, over 30% of traffic from digital news is caused by advertising.
Most news organizations feel pressured to into thee demands of the viewers in order to make a living. If were to dedicate an entire story to puppies, it would receive more clicks because everyone loves puppies; politics, not so much. On the other hand, if you were to make a website with an incredibly insightful analysis of retirement policies in the United States. The main reasoning could be that the story is too complex and something the average viewer not only has trouble understanding, but also doesn’t care about and it would be much harder to control clicks for that. As a journalist, you’re at the mercy of market imperatives in a way because your publisher will want to get clicks, attract advertisement and make money.
Any news coverage that entertains more than informs is known as sensationalism. This form of journalism, also known as yellow journalism, was once used during the Spanish American war; it was used as to sale more newspapers as opposed to readership. Besides that, it exaggerated the happenings of the war. Although journalists are expected to focus on important material, and supply the masses with fluff, they are not obligated deny entertainment completely. Furthermore, it is important for journalists to inform all issues in an entertaining matter. That way you can inform an audience and also captivate the audience.