The Badger Herald: Opinion: Americans ignore strife for sideshow

Opinion

Americans ignore strife for sideshow

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Also by Gabbie Wade:

Texting can donate to more than telecoms (April 13, 2007)
Short-term gain, long-term pain (March 28, 2007)
Americans ignore strife for sideshow (February 23, 2007)
WHO owes Indonesia bird flu protection (February 9, 2007)
Innocence Project uncovers major flaws in American legal system (January 26, 2007)

Friday, February 23, 2007 12:00 a.m.

6 Vote 0 Votes

This morning, I began my day as usual by turning on my computer and starting up the Internet, which popped up to my home screen — CNN.com. Although I was not surprised, I was completely appalled at the headline staring back at me: "Kevin Federline to go to court Thursday." In the past week alone, I have seen update after update on respectable news web sites such as CNN.com and nytimes.com telling me, "Britney Shaves Her Head," "Britney Goes Into Rehab" and "Britney Back Out of Rehab," not to mention the constant bombardment of Anna Nicole stories — "Anna Nicole Murdered?" "Who Will Get Custody of Anna Nicole's Daughter?" "Who Will Inherit Anna Nicole's Fortune?"

If these are the most pressing issues plaguing the U.S. today, we must live in a very crisis-free time. But that is just the problem — our world is not perfect. Throughout the United States and the world, there are significant issues: poverty, global warming, terrorism, genocide, civil wars, disease and innumerable others that deserve our attention. Yet, the American public is fixated on the trivial details of a few highly publicized lives.

Since 1690 when the first newspaper was published in America, the news business has grown and become a symbol of American freedom of speech. All citizens have a right to receive updates concerning what is going on in their world, and for the most part, newspapers are the source of this information. Newspapers are clearly unable to include all stories; it is their job to decide which events are most important for the public to know about. So, since when is the fate of Anna Nicole's baby a critical topic in Americans' lives? Don't get me wrong, I am not blaming the newspapers — they are simply giving the public what they want. It is a proven fact that newspaper readership is way down and has been declining over the years, especially among high school and college-age individuals. Therefore, it is only logical that newspapers would target these sources to find out what they want to read and give it to them, and apparently what they want is Britney Spears.

We live in a highly privileged place, where instead of worrying about global issues, people are able to concentrate on more petty problems because they do not see how issues such as genocide in Africa affect them. This mindset among the public is an extremely disturbing one that needs to be changed. In this case, maybe the newspapers need to take a little more control and stop giving people so much of what they want. Keep the Hollywood stories in the tabloids and fill the newspapers with actual news.

Americans need to realize that what happens to Anna Nicole's money has no effect on their lives, yet the issue of global warming could severely change our lives in the not-so-distant future. In our sometimes-scary world, it may seem easier to focus on insignificant details of others' lives, but it will not help anyone in the future.

Our generation needs to be given — whether we want it or not — more serious news, and we need to start caring about it. Without knowledge of current world events, we are putting the future of our country in jeopardy.

Gabbie Wade (gwade@wisc.edu) is a freshman intending to major in journalism.

6 Comments | Leave a comment

Anonymous | February 23, 2007 10:04 AM | Reply

Couldn’t agree more.

The networks will only blame their bottom line as viewers are more apt to rubberneck vicariously these celebrity “car wrecks” than to pay attention to the monotone of, say, the federal deficit. We only have ourselves to blame. I dare you not to watch anymore coverage of Brittney and Anna Nicole. You will. And you will justify your viewing as educational in as much to fuel your research in disparaging the amount coverage. The irony. And in this, the networks’ work is done. You watched, you were advertised to, and you’ll show up in the Neilsen numbers….and you’ll still ask “who cares about this stuff?”…you do.

Anonymous | February 23, 2007 10:07 AM | Reply

here’s a tip: change your bookmark to the bbc international version if you actually want news.

Anonymous | February 23, 2007 11:58 AM | Reply

I heard the ghost of Anna Nicole Smith is the reason for all the problems in Iraq. Before Smith died, Iraq was SO, SO close to stability. But now, it seems like that whole country is just replete with buxom blond specters whose aim is to make George W. Bush look like a bungling idiot.

Anonymous | February 23, 2007 1:58 PM | Reply

CNN has earned the lack of respect this column shows it. The digusting wall-to-wall coverage of Britney and and Smith is a poor testament to America’s sense of what is important. I agree with the previous poster. BBC is the way to go.

Anonymous | February 23, 2007 4:51 PM | Reply

Instead of starting up the Intraweb every morning, why not go for a walk or volunteer or read a book? You said you weren’t surprised at the headlines, so that means you were following the celeb stories.

So let’s say you switch to BBC, or something less McNewsy. So what? Until you do something about the “scary problems” of the world, you are part of the problem. Don’t let “news” journalism tell you what to worry about.

I am a firm believer that in order to become productive, fully-mature adults, young people need to develop a healthy cynicism towards, and distrust of, authority. Otherwise, they’re nothing but little brainless larval consumers, parroting back what they’ve memorized, and doing what they’re told.

Anonymous | February 24, 2007 2:15 AM | Reply

I start up the internet every morning, to check my email, get the news, read some comics, whatever. I also read books, volunteer in the community and go to school. Going online doesn’t make you a “larval consumer.” Incidentally, BBC.com is my homepage, and they’ve got stories on Britney and Anna Nicole, too (though they are farther down on the page and not the major headlines).

Great op-ed piece. I’m not sure when CNN turned into TV Guide Channel, but I really wish I got BBC America these days. The question is now: what can we do about it?