Tragedies in the Media

I interviewed several people at Frostburg State University about their thoughts about the question "Do you believe that the media exploits tragedies, if so how? If not, why?" and many people had the same general answers.

Erin Wheeler, a Senior here are Frostburg State University majoring in Music and who is originally from Waldorf, Maryland states, "Yes, people always want to see the bad part of the news. When audiences hear about something positive going on, their interest just goes out the window."

Courtney Navarini, a Freshman here at Frostburg State University, majoring in Social Work and originally from Middletown, Maryland states, "Yes, there is no more positive recognition in the news anymore. Every time I turn on the news whether in the car or on television, there is always someone talking about a new terror threat or the death of several people. I believe that people just want to hear about the bad news all the time just to keep their interest in the news. If everything was positive, people may not be as willing to keep the news on for long periods of times."

My last interviewee was a faculty member here at Frostburg State University, who is locally from Frostburg. Judy Abbot is the Information Desk Manager, and her answer for my question was "Yes, the media does put the tragedies as their main focus of the news. I believe that the media is unreliable because there is no truth in the stories. I believe that the media injects their own personal feelings, opinions, and thoughts just to keep their audiences on the edge of their seats. One negative preference that pops into my mind is the 2008 elections. I would watch the news and there would be so many contradictions about how each news station felt about the runners. If they would have just stuck to one side of the election, not making it so personal(like it was 20 years ago), maybe the news would be more reliable and people may enjoy it more and would be able to believe in their media anchor."