Hello all!
Pardon me for being MIA for about a month. I was moving during this time, and as we all know, that is really time-consuming and exhausting. But now that I am settled in, I should be able to write more. After all, media literacy is still needed each and every day in our world, yes? And our responsibility to it?
The above social media post may sound familiar to some, and it is something we all must have said out loud several times in recent years, or sooner. We come across a headline, a video on social media, or a news report, and we wonder why aren’t the big news outlets covering this. Why not CNN, NPR, CBS News, the Washington Post, and all the others we think would be on whatever story in a heartbeat? Even less noted outlets, such as PBS Newshour, Mother Jones, the Texas Tribune, ProPublica, and others?
The good news is, that many big news outlets are covering whatever it is we feel they should be covering. They may not be spending as much time as we’d like on that story nor is it their top story. But they usually are.
Or, the lesser-known, but still outstanding, news outlets are reporting on the story. They may not be “mainstream” but there is coverage, and the news media is indeed doing its job. The thing for news audiences and critics is to take note of the many news sources around and that there is a wealth of reporting being done out there. Hence why it is a bit silly to say the news media is covering major news stories when they actually are.
Now granted, there are times when not enough news sources, even the major ones, cover a story. The biggest example was last year’s train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, spilling vinyl chloride, causing ongoing health problems for the local people. When the derailment first happened, the video footage - sky-high smoke and flames in the night - did not make it to broadcast news right away. It was on social media at first and it took a few days for the incident to finally get the attention of the national news - a few days after many complaints on social media about the lack of coverage.
It does make you wonder what other stories are overlooked and not being reported on. It is also important though, to note that just because a story or a major issue is not getting 24/7 or front-page coverage all day, does not mean there’s no reporting going on. There’s been many complaints that the news media does not report on child sex trafficking - either not enough or not at all.
Now, that’s is far from true and comments like that are an example of few people knowing how news works.
Firstly, there’s been plenty of reports on child sex trafficking throughout the news media and on all levels. It is not uncommon to hear or read about children being rescued or perverts being arrested in major crackdowns across the country. Such arrests and rescues happen so many times and they do make the news. You also could add the reports on the many teachers being arrested for raping their underage students, religious clerics being arrested or their institutions being sued. There is more than enough coverage because these heinous crimes keep happening.
Now, why not round-the-clock coverage? Well, clearly that’s already happening. But top of the hour, every hour? Leading headlines everyday?
If that were to happen, would anything be new? As in, any new arrests, new rescues, and so on? Or would it be the same story over and over? What good would it be to have the same story on repeat until another one takes its place? Will it inspire others to take action and fight this great evil? Or make people depressed? Better yet, will people become numb to these frequent stories that see no real development? That would probably be the last thing any news editor would want.
So, the news media is reporting on things that we are all just finding out about; we just need to look in the right places. Also, as the above screenshot indicates, for someone to say they had no idea something major event was happening or a story was unfolding, and then say the reason why they didn’t know is because no news outlet was covering it, doesn’t really add up. Because maybe that person wasn’t following the news closely enough. Or they only follow a select few sources that limit their access or consumption. Either way, just because they just found out about something doesn’t mean they’ve made the ultimate discovery and proved the news media is untrustworthy. Quite the opposite, in fact.
The media reports on many stories more often than you think. The key is to recognize that the major TV programs and cable news stations are not the only news sources for us to absorb. There’s so much out there.