The media took a brief break from its political feeding frenzies to gorge on a generally apolitical tragedy.
The story of the OceanGate sub all but took over the airwaves as the media whipped up suspense over the fate of the people on board. The people on board were however dead and had been all along.
The Navy was aware of that. So were most experts. Even Titanic director James Cameron weighed in with the obvious.
The idea, held up by the media to profit from eyeballs and clicks, that people were sitting somewhere in a stranded sub waiting to be rescued was a lie. And the media knew that it was a lie.
9 times out of 10 a mysterious disappearance is just a death that hasn’t been discovered, but it doesn’t stop the media from generating suspense and promoting a search not because it cares about the people involved, but because it cares about its bottom line. Ideally, for its purposes, the sub would never have been found and then the story could have dragged on forever. Think about Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 or Madeleine McCann.
These stories tend to be detached from the lives of the viewers and so can be safely consumed as a vicarious soap opera of the “did ya know” variety.
Two decades ago media critics would have pointed that out, but the media is so far gone that it hardly seems worthwhile to decry sensationalism. The “news” can now include summaries of viral videos, including SNL routines or John Oliver and Stephen Colbert reactions. Most of it consists of editorializing or clickbait.
-- excerpt, rest at link above --
“We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent people.” ― George Orwell
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
Tue Jun 27, 2023 11:40 am (Last edited: Tue Jun 27, 2023 11:40 am)
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