People still watch it, regardless of what it says.
In fact, the more sensational the things it says, the more people watch it.
And, hey, isn't it obvious that practicing simulated violence leads to actual violent tendancies? I mean, you're playing MURDER SIMULATIONS!
It makes sense from a gut-reaction (even to me, a games player). It's just not borne out from experience. So, the parents who want to "protect their children" and the people that want an explanation for why bad things happen to good people, quite happily gobble up this sensationalist nonsense and feel that some explanation has been given.
The media continues to show it, because it gets ratings, is easy, and "makes sense" to the audience. And the more the audience goes "this makes sense" the more the audience TRUSTS the media source.
There is nobody saying "Hey, that's not backed up, you can't publish it". No rule saying that if the magazine publishes a report about how violence in video games leads to shooting that they need to publish an equally properly conducted report about how violent video games do NOT lead to shootings (if one exists). No rules saying they need to publish retractions if their facts turn out to be wrong. Nobody pulling out five-year-old footage where they said things like "mobile phones cause cancer".
Most importantly, not enough people say "this is rubbish and isn't backed up by the facts" and STOP WATCHING.
They have no accountability, so why should they change?
As a side note, I do realise that I am extremely jaded. I've stopped watching tv altogether (we have one, but it's not plugged into the aerial), and don't read newspapers. I miss news, but since most of it is noise, I rely on people telling me the important issues, then I *search for my own information* to form an opinion. And bear the biases from the media sources in mind. |
