144: How the News becomes Religion

Talk Back to Me

The idea of the news is a fascinating one. Somehow, the individual who's job it is to give you the news is supposed to accomplish it without including his or her own bias. As an ideal, this would be useful, as people bring their own worldviews into consideration when they consume media. But in our world, in the post-information age, it's just not that simple. 

We've come to accept that bad news gets more attention than good news, but why is this the case. Not in the national, bird's eye view, but why, for ourselves? Why do we pay more attention to what is going wrong in the world, and give less heed to what is going well? 

Bad news imparts a sense of urgency, which, like alcohol, calms some of the storm by giving it meaning. And like alcohol, if we do not maintain that buzz, we'll eventually get left with a hangover. 

The metaphor isn't exhaustive however, for when we look at both history, and how we percieve meaning in a society, we are faced with a tried and true problem: what is the role, if any, of the news man, and how do we even define integrity in such institutions. 

The newsman has replaced the pulpit, as the place where we go in society to look for answers to the deeper questions of life, and it has had consequences which we are paying for.

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