Today more and more news organizations are reporting on superficial topics, such as celebrity gossip and fashion trends, rather than focusing on topics that are shaping the world around us, such as foreign policy and environmental trends.
I believe that the primary function of news is to inform the public, not to entertain them.
It is understandable, however, that news industries are more concerned about driving a profit. Today it seems as if the majority of people are more concerned with celebrity gossip than they are with world issues. In order for newspapers to survive they must report on what the people want.
The news today is like skipping dinner and going straight to dessert. Dinner is what fills you up, gives you energy and nourishment but it often doesn't taste as good as dessert. So people just skip dinner and go straight to dessert, they enjoy it without realizing that they are becoming unhealthy as a result. Likewise, skipping world affairs and going straight to gossip is slowly poisoning our society.
Whether or not it is ethical is a different question. While it is a bad thing that news organizations are focusing more of their resources into celebrity gossip, it keeps them alive. And without news organizations people would be ill-informed and likely believe anything that is spouted out at them.
I believe that the problem is not with news organizations, rather, society itself. Society drives the news by deciding what kind of information they are going to consume, and because newspapers cannot force people to consume their information, they must produce topics that please the people.
They say that in order to change an alcoholic's behavior, you have to start with the inside out. You can't change an alcoholic by taking away his booze, he will just want it more. Rather, you have to get inside his head and make him want something else more, a better life.
I believe it is the same way with society, you have to get inside society (I believe through the education system) and make it want to be well informed. You can't just throw news at them that they don't want.
