“Ebola:the modern black plague” “Lawsuit happy woman sues McD over hot coffee”\ “Magic pill causes weight loss”
A pill that makes you lose weight magically? Tell me more.
The truth is, we all fall prey to sensationalism. Sensationalism is a type of editorial bias. We see sensationalism in the media everywhere from pop up ads online to titles of articles in the newspapers. Journalists use sensationalism to draw readers in, hook them onto the piece of writing, excite the reader and make them want to read more. According to the New York Times, 80 % or 8 out of 10 readers never make it past the headline. So sensationalism is a tool for journalists to draw the attention of the reader and make it seem memorable. This can lead to a dangerous amount of misinformation. For example, winter 2014-15 my parents decided that we would take a trip to Paris and Morocco. Are you impressed about the exotic locale? Don’t be. Morocco is in Northern Africa. This was during the peak of the Ebola scare. All we heard on the Detorit local news was that northern africa was under an ebola epidemic Why are we throwing ourselves into the waiting arms of death? Do my parents not love me? These were a few of the questions running through my head at the time. Fast forward a few months and where did Ebola go? Did we find a …show more content…
No. Does it still exist? Yes. And it’s a serious disease but they ran out of sensationalist headlines and people got bored and the media moved on to the next hot topic. First let’s discuss sensationalism through the ages,
A pill that makes you lose weight magically? Tell me more.
The truth is, we all fall prey to sensationalism. Sensationalism is a type of editorial bias. We see sensationalism in the media everywhere from pop up ads online to titles of articles in the newspapers. Journalists use sensationalism to draw readers in, hook them onto the piece of writing, excite the reader and make them want to read more. According to the New York Times, 80 % or 8 out of 10 readers never make it past the headline. So sensationalism is a tool for journalists to draw the attention of the reader and make it seem memorable. This can lead to a dangerous amount of misinformation. For example, winter 2014-15 my parents decided that we would take a trip to Paris and Morocco. Are you impressed about the exotic locale? Don’t be. Morocco is in Northern Africa. This was during the peak of the Ebola scare. All we heard on the Detorit local news was that northern africa was under an ebola epidemic Why are we throwing ourselves into the waiting arms of death? Do my parents not love me? These were a few of the questions running through my head at the time. Fast forward a few months and where did Ebola go? Did we find a …show more content…
No. Does it still exist? Yes. And it’s a serious disease but they ran out of sensationalist headlines and people got bored and the media moved on to the next hot topic. First let’s discuss sensationalism through the ages,