Extreme Reality: How Media Coverage Exaggerates Risks and Dangers

If you watch television news regularly, you can’t help but think that the world is a very scary place (Stossel 88). The news media falls into the trap of entertaining its audience under the guise of information. Media from many sources, whether it is television, magazines or newspaper, tend to bias their news reports in an attempt to entertain. Lichter said, “Journalists unconsciously train themselves to look for the story that really rivets your attention (Stossel 88).
Media accounts
The year 2001 was labeled “Summer of the Shark”. Amidst the hype of news reports the message of increasing shark attacks seemed to be everywhere. According to the author, the claim that shark attacks were on the rise was not true. While scientists were saying that a person was more likely to be killed by lightning than a shark, the media was creating its own news. This is mirrored in another account of media hype involving a report by the American Automobile Association (AAA) in which it was reported that road rage was up 51 percent in the first half of the 1990s. Unfortunately, this assertion was based on circular logic (Stossel 89). Stefani Faul, a spokesperson for AAA, said “the consumer group based it’s analysis on incidents from news reports.”
Critical thinking
The Media reports on a daily basis and in doing so they must continuously strive to outdo themselves. If the world isn’t in danger of sharks or road rage it is attributed to carjacking or murder. News reports, in an attempt to emit an emotional response, tend to overstate certain facts while understating others. Ultimately it may turn out that life is safer than media reports insist. Replying to his comments on mundane things, Mcrary said, “It doesn’t sell on TV. Sex and violence sells.” Lichter said, “Bad journalism is worse than no journalism, because it leaves people thinking they know something that is, in fact, wrong.”

Stossel, John. “Extreme Reality: How Media Coverage Exaggerates Risks and Dangers.” Goshgarian, Gary. What Matters in America. New York: Pearson Education Inc., 2007.