![Newsworthiness and Demand
• “[N]ews about the war in Iraq rests firmly at the
top, and…a diversity of news material is important
to audiences…news media have a responsibility
to provide audiences not only with what they
need, but what they want” (627).
• What do audiences want? A spectrum of news
that includes everything from politics to celebrity
gossip. Arts and entertainment coverage provides
a relief from more serious news topics.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/artsandentertainmentcoverage-111206003800-phpapp02/85/Arts-and-entertainment-coverage-3-320.jpg)
Arts and entertainment coverage
- 2. News vs. Entertainment “News content tends to be studied apart from entertainment content. Yet, the line between the two forms is increasingly blurred.” -Rebecca Ann Lind and David L. Rarick in the Journal of Mass Media Ethics Source: Mass Communication and Society
- 3. Newsworthiness and Demand • “[N]ews about the war in Iraq rests firmly at the top, and…a diversity of news material is important to audiences…news media have a responsibility to provide audiences not only with what they need, but what they want” (627). • What do audiences want? A spectrum of news that includes everything from politics to celebrity gossip. Arts and entertainment coverage provides a relief from more serious news topics.
- 4. Arts and Entertainment Coverage What is covered: Where it is covered: Culture Media • Music • Newspapers • Movies • Radio • Dance • Magazines • Plays/ Theater • Television • Awards Shows • Pictures • Talent Shows • Late Night Talk Shows • Culture • Entertainment Networks (E!) • Art • Online • Blogs • Celebrities: • Gossip Sites • Politicians, Actors/ • Social media Actresses, Singers, Dancers, etc.
- 5. High Art vs. Low Art Entertainment coverage typically focuses on what is called “low culture,” more commonly known as popular culture. Popular Culture Cultural activities or commercial products reflecting, suited to, or aimed at the tastes of the general masses of people. Arts coverage tends to focus more on “high culture”, which is the opposite of popular culture. It is typically considered more elitist because it is assumed that less people are interested.
- 6. Lorne Manly (seen on the left), the entertainment editor of The New York Times answered viewers’ questions about entertainment coverage. One question focused on how this news organization balances coverage of high culture and low culture, and Manly’s answer gave a key example on the difference between how a news organization covers pop culture in comparison to how tabloids cover it.
- 7. Dwindling Coverage of High Arts Despite the fact that interest in high arts has not diminished, the amount of coverage of high art has significantly decreased over the years. Doug McLennan, editor of the online arts news service ArtsJournal.com: “Dance coverage in most newspapers is very, very small, yet the number of participants worldwide is increasing. There are 250,000 choruses in the U.S., but you wouldn’t know it by reading most American newspapers.” In an article in The Seattle Times: “From 1992 to 1997, King County's population grew 5.5 percent - and the audience attending nonprofit cultural events grew 28 percent. Total attendance in 1997, the last year tallied by the King County Corporate Council for the Arts, was more than for the Seahawks, Mariners and Sonics combined. That doesn't include commercial enterprises like galleries, rock concerts and Broadway shows.” Why? Since interest is clearly not the problem, what is causing this lack of high arts coverage?
- 8. Consumerism “The arts criticism in most national magazines, in nearly all newspapers around the country, and even in the arts weeklies has become shorter in length and lighter in tone — where it has survived at all — and the concerns of much of the critical writing published both in print and online have grown progressively commercial: What to watch? What to buy? Is the movie worth the cost of admission? Is the book worth the cover price?” Alisa Solomon, the director of the Arts and Culture program at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, essentially said the problem is “the idea that anything that’s worthwhile pay for itself. In an environment where there’s disdain for expertise, and where intelligent conversation about a topic is considered elitist and therefore oppressive, critics look not only dispensable, but somehow evil or wrong. Our attitudes toward the arts have been framed within this notion that they have to have some kind of utilitarian or commercial value, and we're losing our ability to talk about them in other terms." Source