From a Palace in Italy to a Condo In Boca. How the Press is handeling the Retirement of the Pope

I think that the press had less coverage of the retirement on the Pope than I would have expected. Of course if you search for news there are hundreds of articles about every different aspect of the retirement or what happens next but as far as headlines go its not exactly front page news. A lot has happened this week in the news so maybe that is why any news on the Pope got pushed off the front page but I think there is more. Religion is a tough issue for the media to cover. Rarely does a story on religion make it to the front page unless it is some sort of scandal. These stories simply do not make what the modern day readership has defined as "good" news. The Pope announced his retirement Monday morning and the announcement got roughly a day and a half of news coverage. Then we have an ex-cop who has killed people and is on the run, locking himself in a cabin. Shortly following this we have the President giving his first State of the Union of his second term. We can not say that the media outlets did a bad job covering the Retirement of the Pope or that they did not give the historical announcement the time it deserved. There was simply bigger flashier news that the editors decided was more important.

Reading Response 1/18/13

    
    In response to the first reading about why we need to hate the press, I would agree to what the author is saying for a few reasons. First the press has always been there and the press will always be there. Our country was found on freedom and as the only constitutionally protected industry the press has an obligation to push the boundaries in reporting what is really happening in our country and abroad. Secondly, the press industry is a business that not only has huge expenses but needs to make money as well to keep up with the changing world. As we have witnessed, there has been a huge shift in how the news gets reported. The industry was initially founded on the use of daily news papers to get the news out, now we are seeing the increase in online news media and lessening of hard print readership. New companies need to sell their content or have their content viewed enough that it attracts advertisers so they can make money. This is why we see news stories that everyone loves to hate. Yes everyone enjoys reading the stories about the successful charity or the bravery of mankind but what catches our eye is the stories with big bold scary headlines such as "AMERICA ABOUT TO FALL OFF THE CLIFF"  or "AMERICA'S CYCLING HERO A FAKE AND A CHEAT".  These types of headlines are what sell papers and what sell adverts.
      This brings us to the second article about the iron core of news media. For this article I would tend to agree and disagree with the author. Yes more people are buying copies of People Magazine than the NY Times and more people watch the Oprah Winfrey Show than watch the CBS Evening News but I think the core is still there and it is just as strong. I believe that the outer layers have just gotten more numerous. The TV media market is as big as it has ever been and shows and adverts with huge human interest are still a big cash crop where anyone can jump into the market and sell a show that will have a high enough attendance to have networks film them and show them on TV.