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>It's far away and of little direct meaning to you. That's exactly why I believe small local news is far more important than national or world news. It's impor
by freehunter 7y ago
>It's far away and of little direct meaning to you.
That's exactly why I believe small local news is far more important than national or world news. It's important to know what's going on in the broader world, but in terms of actual impact to your daily life, a road closure in your neighborhood is more impactful than (and I'm just taking a headline from the front of CNN.com right now) "Former Belgian king submits DNA in paternity case". For politics, your local city council voting to allow or ban AirBnb or Uber or marijuana businesses has more direct meaning for you than (another CNN.com headline) "Analysis: Trump and Biden escalate their fight".
Especially when it comes to crime reporting... you should know about shootings in your area, or car crashes or kidnappings etc. Things that could actually happen to you or impact your life. But me sitting in Michigan reading about stabbings in Japan or a sheriff's deputy being shot in Texas, or a 4 year old boy attacked by a mountain lion in San Diego... what do I do with that information? What is the expected outcome of me reading that story? When I am done reading it, what should I do about it?
It's feartainment, fear as an entertainment. I don't need to know it, but when I read it I become afraid and over time I become addicted to fear, and so I check CNN more to see if there is more things I need to be afraid of. It overflows into our local life too, we become addicted to fear and we know others are addicted to fear too, so if we share the most fear-inducing stories we become more popular as people become addicted to the fear we're spreading.