Why is there never any "closure" in the media?

Asked by alive (2953

) October 1st, 2009

I try my best to pay attention and follow current events. But they are hard to follow because our news sources often don’t follow up.

There is always “breaking news” in the media. Every station, paper, reporter, etc is trying to be the first to break a story, but after the initial blurb, it is rare for news (in the US) to follow up on the details, and the solution. They just move on to the next NEW story to tell. Why is that? Is that how we want our media to report on issues?

Or do you think i am totally wrong, we do get endings and closure?

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7 Answers

Because the media’s attention span is only as long as its viewers’ attention span is.

holden (8450

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We can’t have actual stories with a beginning, middle and an end. That doesn’t sell. It’s the knee-jerk reactions we get from hearing the story for the first time that gets them ratings. Usually the endings of stories reveal that it wasn’t as big of a deal as we thought. Sensationalism ftw. Plus, if they followed up on a lot of their stories, they’d be wearing a lot of egg on their faces.

ubersiren (15208

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@ubersiren Couldn’t have put it better myself. GA

lloydbird (8740

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Ratings, baby, ratings.

dannyc (5257

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I agree. It’s very frustrating when there is some big breaking news story but never any follow up on it. I want to know what happens next!

ItalianPrincess1217 (11979

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There’s a reason Rush Limbaugh refers to the mainstream news outlets as ‘The Driveby Media’.

I find that Fox News does a far better job following up on events (something that must be done by those that find outcomes and accountability important)

Noel_S_Leitmotiv (2719

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