On January 23, 2014, a webpage news article discussing Justin Bieber’s arrest was the top article on USA Today. Several stories down, a woman in India was gang raped as a court order against the woman. I often find myself questioning why exactly celebrity and entertainment news is seen as more valuable than world news.
In The Gambler by Paolo Bacigalupi, the author reflects on the idea that news is tailored to what will get the most ‘clicks’. While I personally believe that women’s rights in India is a far more important issue to be discussed in today’s media rather than what antics a teen pop star is up to, many people would rather invest themselves in celebrity worship culture. This parallels the struggles of Laotian reporter, Ong, who must choose between publishing his story on bluets, a flower that is in danger of extinction, or an interview with one of the hottest pop stars in the media, Kulaap. …show more content…
Each day headlines are splattered across newspapers, blogs, and magazines, and almost rarely are they depressing or of substantial importance. More commonly seen is ‘scandals’. What Bacigalupi is challenging us to ask ourselves, is if these ‘scandals’ are really news. When describing the post that Kulaap sends to her website, Ong states, “It is a bit of nothing. Not a news story, not a scoop even, and yet… I can see her site lighting up with traffic.” Similarly, in the real world, our society follows celebrity Instagram posts more closely than the news about deforestation, or global warming, or war. Bottom line, stories that are entertaining come before stories that are
In The Gambler by Paolo Bacigalupi, the author reflects on the idea that news is tailored to what will get the most ‘clicks’. While I personally believe that women’s rights in India is a far more important issue to be discussed in today’s media rather than what antics a teen pop star is up to, many people would rather invest themselves in celebrity worship culture. This parallels the struggles of Laotian reporter, Ong, who must choose between publishing his story on bluets, a flower that is in danger of extinction, or an interview with one of the hottest pop stars in the media, Kulaap. …show more content…
Each day headlines are splattered across newspapers, blogs, and magazines, and almost rarely are they depressing or of substantial importance. More commonly seen is ‘scandals’. What Bacigalupi is challenging us to ask ourselves, is if these ‘scandals’ are really news. When describing the post that Kulaap sends to her website, Ong states, “It is a bit of nothing. Not a news story, not a scoop even, and yet… I can see her site lighting up with traffic.” Similarly, in the real world, our society follows celebrity Instagram posts more closely than the news about deforestation, or global warming, or war. Bottom line, stories that are entertaining come before stories that are