A Theoretical Approach of Different Authors on Reality TV, the Media, and News

In clarity, the media platform has evolved considerably. However, instead of growing to become an important and informative source to society, it has resolved to become a channel where people are fed with what they want not what is needed for them. Here authors in different essays have undertaken to criticize this trend through various theoretical approaches. The main articles that will be discussed are Peter Funts So Much Media So Little News and Salman Rushdies Reality TV: A Dearth of Talent and The Death of Morality. Therefore, the rationale of this essay is to discuss each author and how their theories relate to the concepts presented or aired on reality TV, the media platform, and the news they show.

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Peter Funts connection with this topic indicates that he has come to a realization that the media lets people access information, but this information does not entail the important parts. Instead, the media platform has taken to offering people what they want not what they need to know. People are no longer interested in reading or watching the current news, and the media has succumbed to this pressure thus offering information as per the competitive advantages their businesses can acquire. On the other hand, Salman Rushdie takes to portray his connectedness to the reality TV and the media shows through criticizing the concepts exhibited on this platform. Rushdies bitterness comes from the fact that the media platform today has stopped being the avenue through which people know about the world they live. Instead, it has evolved to become a window through which big money shows are aired to portray to people how they should become famous and rich. Moreover, he goes on to warn the people of the future predicaments that may result from this trend.

Peter Funts essay has established that the media platform today has gradually eroded. Newspapers are no longer provided for each household while the media platform is crowded with so many mediums which are now serving people according to their interests instead of giving them generalized information. However, he blames the TV producers and editors more for the growth of this trend through assumption. This is evident from his statement Many television producers and an increasing number of newspaper editors mistakenly believe that since the days hard news is readily available around-the-clock from so many sources, its no longer in their commercial interest, or the public interest, to serve it up themselves (Funt 1). His statement clarifies that the media no longer offers people what they need to know but instead gives them what they want to read in bounty. This is the consideration that now communication mediums have personalized the interests of their readers and viewers where people can filter what they want and leave the rest to other interested parties. While the media is blamed at large global economic competitiveness also contributes to this erosion in the media platform. The media sector is also a business venture which faces competition from all other organizations. Therefore, for them to compete with the other agencies they, embark on giving their target customers what they want instead of what is needed (Calvert 12). Notably, most people rely on and believe what their media personalities offer to them and present as the important news of the day. Therefore, the approaches that the communication medium is using to provide information according to the consumers wants establishes that they are eroding some basic requirements that require them to present ethically and morally.

Salman Rushdie, on the other hand, has taken to criticizing the media platform as a whole but especially the reality TV shows. In his essay, Rushdie establishes that although he has no interest in watching absurd TV shows their existence leads even uninterested people to discussing them. He maintains that the Television medium was such an important medium where people could watch the current news and understand the things that are happening in the world they live. However, this platform has deviated from its core responsibility and instead has become a platform where money games and untalented shows are being aired (Couldry 4). TVs have deviated from being relevant mediums where people can watch the need be news to being advertisers of how to be famous and rich. From his essay, Rushdie criticizes the TV platform for allowing people to do the unimportant thing which eventually lead them to become famous. Moreover, Rushdie insists that due to the extensive advertisement of these irrelevant information individuals and activities people with real talents are never considered. His statement clarifies the continuity of this trend, Who needs talent when the unashamed self-display of the talentless is constantly on offer? (Rushdie 146) Most importantly, it is clear that Rushdies criticism comes from a fear that due to this erosion and the need to keep the viewers entertained the reality TV producers will have to find a new way of evolving their shows. Their innovations will thus be characterized by more dangerous actions so that their target consumers can feel more inclined to keep watching them. Moreover, he goes on to say that from the actions happening on reality shows people will be more willing to copy what their starring on their ideal TV shows are doing. With this mindset, Rushdie warns that more people will take to doing dangerous and bizarre things so that they can find their way into the front pages of the major news outlets.

The issue of media erosion is no longer an inevitable topic. Moreover, different authors are coming out to criticize this trends that have consistently grown over time. Rushdie tells that the media has extensively contributed to eroded talent and morals instead of acting as the window through which people get the information they need. On the other hand, Funt has widely demonstrated that the media platform no longer airs what is required but gives the consumers what they want.

Work Cited

Calvert, Clay. Voyeur nation: Media, privacy, and peering in modern culture. Basic Books, 2004.

Couldry, Nick. "Illusions of immediacy: rediscovering Halls early work on media." Media, Culture & Society (2015): 0163443715580943.

Funt, P. Cover story: so much media, so little news. American Review. 2016. http://americanreviewmag.com/stories/So-much-media-so-little-newsRushdie, Salman. "Reality TV: A dearth of talent and the death of morality." The guardian 9 (2001).