Actually it 'says something' about media.
Not really. Media goes where the money is and the viewers dictate that..
That's sort-of what I mean, but no, absolutely the viewers
don't dictate that. The broadcaster does. I doubt any viewer petitioned mass media to 'please give us inane shows about naked people on an island forced to eat bugs, and fake wrestling, and on-stage paternity tests and oh can we have a camera truck that goes around following philanderers?" This
loserist lowest common denominator swill is concocted to mine the emotions specifically because the concoctors know the somnambulist sponges will sop it up like candy.
You are directly contradicting yourself here. Stating that no one petitioned for that type of programming and then that they sop it up like sponges is directly contradictory.
The people can and do DEMAND that type pf programming and do so when they flock to it and watch it. Your premise that it is the producers forcing that content on the viewers relies on a false premise - that there are no options.
Just as hordes of people did not clamor for Detroit to make too-big inverted bathtubs that they could roll over.
The Three Lies: "This won't hurt a bit", "The check is in the mail" and "We're just giving the public what they want". Except that there actually are times when this won't hurt and the check really is in the mail.
NOBODY gives the public "what they want" over "what will sell". That whole "we're just giving the public what they want" lie is a crutch they use to avoid taking responsibility for their offering's obvious flaws.
Again, that is based on the false idea that those customers have no options.
Face the facts, there is a reason that entities like FOX and CNN absolutely blow PBS out of the water when it comes to viewership and it is NOT because people are forced into that type of content. It is because they want that content over something like actual news. If they really wanted it then they would be watching the content that is already there for them. 100 percent of ALL television viewers tuning into FOX and CNN have access to far less biased content through NPR. Every single one of them. And yet that content draws ever larger audiences. This is the same reason that Hannity and Maddow continually do FAR better than commentators like Smerconish - people WANT the divisiveness and confirmation bias and they willingly go along with it.
Do you honestly think that the media giants forced people to migrate from news shows to places like the tonight show where most youth gets news these days or can you see the truth that this is what people want and so they are getting it?
If the media were to suddenly grow a soul and start broadcasting real news in an unbiased manner all that would happen is 'news' outlets like Breitbear would become the new leaders.
The fact that people flock to this type of media says a lot more about them than it does about the media. It is not as though there are not other options out there, just that most do not want reason and discussion. They want talking points and hate.
Again, it's got nothing to do with "what they want" -- it's "what they'll accept" that's served up to them on Toiletvision, which has already indoctrinated them to sit down, shut up, and watch whatever turds we hand you.
Nor does the public have any avenue to make such a request anyway.
Emotion sells, and broadcasters know that well. Aside from that, the fact that one slanted talking head is overdrawing another slanted talking head doesn't mean people are "flocking" to either one; without bothering to look it up I have no doubt both Hannity's and Maddow's ratings are dwarfed by the big hitters of those other options in that same time slot. Sitcoms, dramas, people stranded on an island eating bugs, whatever they are.
As stated above, as there are options out there your premise that they are forced into this type of 'news' is simply false.
That does not relive those entities of the responsibility that they bear but it does mean that they are not the cause but rather the symptom of a far larger problem.