Sunday, July 5, 2009

News: The Next Fad

I'd like to start with a question today. (I've probably done that before but this time I'm stating it so you're ready.) Why do you pay attention to the news today?

Just like everything else in this world, news has become a thing of fads and trends that really doesn't provide anything of content. All there is on TV, Newspapers, Magazines, News Websites, and Social Network Sites is fad news stories that spike people's interest for a couple days, then we completely forget about them.

Take Michael Jackson's death. Here is the Google Trend's for Michael Jackson over the last 12 months.

All of a sudden, Michael dies and everyone buys and listens to his music. Why? His music isn't any better now that he is dead. It's always been there and it's not going to go for a while. But guess what. All 12 million people that downloaded Thriller on iTunes the Thursday he died because they 'Love Michael Jackson and love his music and want to remember him forever!' have already forgotten about him. Everybody left Billie Jean, Thriller, and Smooth Criminal on repeat all day long Friday, then let the songs get lost in their immense library to not be listened to again.

This is only one example of many. All of the celebrity deaths lately, (Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Billy Mays, Steve McNair) The protests in Iran, Air France, any of these ring a bell?

Why are these news fads becoming more prevalent? Why do people have to get so passionate about breaking news and then just forget about it the next day? If anyone has any insight on this, it would be great if you could share it.

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