Are The News Channels Manipulating Us?

When reading Amusing Ourselves To Death by Neil Postman I came across this quote that I thought needed more evaluation. The quote read, “The problem is not that television presents us with entertaining subject matter but that all subject matter is presented as entertaining, which is another issue altogether... No matter what is depicted or from what point of view, the overarching presumption is that it is there for our amusement and pleasure,”(Postman, pg.87). This quote opened my eyes because I realized that all the shows I watch did have some type of amusement element to it. Shows meant for cooking, science, and even the news displays content meant for entertainment. This  mainly connected to the news because sometimes they don’t always address problems that may be concerning to our society. Instead, sometimes we see stories about saving a dog which may have no correlation to our lives. This type of news is designed to pleasure us. Channels report stories like that because if they reported grueling stories then some people wouldn't want to come back and watch. This type of content can shield us from knowing the real and sometimes depressing news. And when they do report news that is somewhat serious it is not for long periods of time and are known to diverge our attention to something else by using the phrase "Now...This". This gives the viewer little time to think about the incident which doesn't give it much time to resonate in their minds. This personally bothers me because I thought I was being presented with information that was important to my life but actually the news picks and chooses what entertainment they want you to see instead of what you need to see.
- Annie Givhan