First of all welcome, the inaugural post for a revolutionary new blog (we hope). Clickbait is nothing new, it’s basically that kid that tries to be heard by shouting loudest in the playground right? However how damaging is this and is it getting out of hand? The Media is a primary source of information, whether that be current affairs or stories on those people in power. However, how much of the information we are now getting is warped? All as a means of us still finding the content worth engaging in in the first place? Well here in this new blog we aim to find out just that.
We have more access to the media than ever before. Reaching us on television, radio, newspaper and now on social media all through one handheld device. This universal connection providing us with instantaneous interaction to content from all over the world. So whilst these media outlets and news companies can be reached and engaged with through the simple click of a mouse or the opening of an app on a smartphone, there is also more competition than ever.
The oldies at The Guardian weren’t competing to have their voices heard in direct competition with bowtie-wearing Millennials publishing news stories on snapchat. Therefore we must ask is what we are being presented as news even real news anymore? Or are we just blinded by our craving for ten second snippets and an easy read?
This hints at a changing in our viewing habits. A world where a quick chuckle is now expected when engaging with content. We must deem the content as worth interacting immediately, especially when there are dozens of other sources to compete with. As a result these more radical statement headlines are used to entice us, set themselves apart from the crowd. But whilst we as mature, sophisticated individuals (taking a punt with that I know) are aware to try and see through these outlandish statements or potentially more extreme views and language, those less developed audiences may not, and it’s not just niche groups providing this content. In fact it’s some of the media industries tentpole companies.
There are news sources all over the world that provide truly horrific and radical views that this blog could comment on. I feel though that instead focusing around sources closer to home, in the Western world, provides just as much intrigue, especially as we deem ourselves the most progressive and open minded (cue Donald Trump meme). I’m talking news companies like Fox News, with their billion dollar wrinkle midget monster at the helm (one point for guessing who that is). The views and statements in regards to ‘modern politics’ provides just as shocking entertainment as a Jeremy Kyle Omnibus.
Tabloid newspapers have been doing it for years. But now, in a more open and progressive world, these headlines aren’t just used to entice, but to segregate. These headlines now contain sinister undertones and damaging portrayals. This benefits those who feel their backwards thinking is validated because it’s on a newspaper headline down your local off-license.
This is where we must ask why? Why do we care more about Angela Merkel’s shoes than the crisis in Aleppo? Why do we want to know how many immigrants are going to murder us rather than the horror they are fleeing from on their own back door? This is probably where
you’re expecting me to answer, but to be honest I’m not totally sure and the plan was to keep this all quite light. Clickbait may just be a harmless means of getting us interested in what stories the world has to tell us. But it also may be a lot more then that, and I think that’s worth commenting on don’t you think?
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