RUNNINGHEAD: SENSATIONALISM IN JOURNALISM

Sensationalism in Journalism

Sensationalism in Journalism

“Do Journalists Blame Spin To Cover Up Their Own Failings In Reporting Politics?”

Introduction

The Role of Media in our society is of providing true facts and information to the public. They have to provide original facts rather than relying on their own theories which helps in providing the real picture of what is happening in our society. It is the media who enlightens the public with information which develops their understanding of the issues in the modern day society. In this regard journalism can be considered as a noble profession for every journalist. Journalists work hard to extract the true facts of the events that occur in a nation on regular basis. People who read the information on daily newspaper develop their perceptions on the basis of the facts that are provided to them. This concept has been followed in the society since a long time. Previously people used to read newspapers and now they rely heavily on news channels as the basic source of information for them (Leslie, 2000, pp. 1737-1741).

As far as the term media sensationalism or spinning is concerned, there are various definitions of media sensationalism. Among those under the common sense, we find that sensationalism or spinning is to dramatize certain events by the choice of title, vocabulary, picture, that is to say, to bring out certain elements to attract the attention of viewers and readers. It is often associated with television, sensationalism is also present in the print media and is actually related to the very idea of what makes an event or new, that is to say, the exceptional character, real or pretended, a fact which we wish to draw attention. The term sensationalism or spinning comes from the sensational, meaning "that caused a sensation, produced a deep impression." Focusing primarily on the audience's emotions, sensationalism thus responds to the particular interest test of the new human (Andy, 2003, pp. 9-14).

In the recent times, media has been involved in scandalizing events dramatically to change its context or the background. They mould it according to their own desires and switch the attention of public. They try to scandalize simple events to highlight their shows. This is happening frequently in anchored media shows where politicians come to discuss their opinions on a specified theme. A tussle between media and politics is visible in almost every part of the world which is misleading the public from facts. Media personnel or journalist highlights a small portion of what is said by the politicians and give it a new direction based upon their own interests. They have the command in their hands due to which they can easily mould their words against a specific theme discussed in a political discussion between political parties or a speech by political leader. Journalists do have the power to mislead the innocent public according to their perceptions just to highlight their name. The sole reason behind such games is to increase the ratings of a TV ...