Larry D. Lauer

It’s not fake news. But it is a business.

Television cannot resist making drama, and newspapers cannot resist writing provocative headlines. After all, they both must deliver audiences to their advertisers.

Both newspaper and TV news organizations develop journalists and anchors with star power because it’s good for business. Both are attracted to covering the outrageous over the mundane because it’s good for business. Tweets become attention-getting headlines and are also good for business. And a government in chaos and out-of-control is certainly good for the news business.

When NBC producers designed their approach to the recent debates, they clearly had the nature of their visual medium in mind.. After all, TV likes drama, and the colors, set design, use of music, staging, and even the anchor’s introductions and questions were written with this medium’s power in mind. Some pundits even thought the program resembled a game show! But however you saw it, it certainly was good for the TV news business.

Bottom line: It’s difficult to imagine how news media organizations will fix things for us anytime soon… especially when the daily headlines are so good for their businesses.