Why bother with the news?

[dropcap style=boxed]I[/dropcap]t was a summer week in which two papers led with different stories: one an escalation in the current Gaza-Israel conflict which has left more than 2,000 people dead; the other a scuffle between tween sensation Justin Bieber and actor Orlando Bloom in an Ibiza restaurant.It brings to mind the bizarre nature of that concept we know as the news.What is the news but a grouping of information that someone, somewhere, has decided should be relevant to our own lives? Simply because it is the purpose of the news to inform, hardly makes it the obligation of the people to listen?The seemingly endless nature of news today and the sheer range of available sources, from constant Twitter reactions, to 24-hour news channels, mean that the way we consume news is changing. It is no longer accepted as the almost divine force that it once was; it is questioned, probed and some sources are rightly held under more scrutiny than others.

The increase in competition between media outlets presents them with a dilemma: how do they maintain their popularity?

The result is a change in the sources that we consult; where once RTÉ News may have been considered the gold standard, people now are faced with a range of alternatives.Statistics produced for 2013 by the UK’s media regulator, Ofcom, demonstrated this change in consumption between generations. Whilst 34% of people consulted BBC1 as their primary source, 24% of people aged 16 to 24 used a digital media source as their first choice.The increase in competition between media outlets presents them with a dilemma: how do they maintain their popularity? How can they ensure that what they produce as newsworthy is also popular?The problem for media is that far too often the public have an appetite for stories which are not particularly newsworthy at all. Simply glancing at the most viewed stories on The Guardian website last year offers a sense of this: one of the biggest stories of last year, the revelations by whistleblower Edward Snowden on widespread NSA surveillance garnered 3.8m views, whilst Sinead O’Connor’s open letter to Miley Cyrus on fame amassed a cool 2.4m views.It is difficult therefore for media to justify placing significant issues before the popular, if it is the popular story generating demand. While this may ring true purely from a perspective of maximising revenue, profit alone should not be the sole aim of the media.The media has a responsibility to the public; it owes them an education in the ways of the world. Alain de Botton, a philosopher and author whose book The News: A User’s Manual was published last year, has argued that the role of the news goes beyond simply informing the public: “the point of the news is to make the nation flourish, to help the nation to go better.”The tragedy or scandal we read about in the news everyday has a purpose. Exposing criminality aims to make society a better place. Reporting on deaths in a natural disaster hopes to trigger means by which less death can be caused in the future.If the people are changing the way in which they consume the news, then the news too needs to change in response to the people. It must adapt to make itself significant in our own lives. Popular news must be made significant and significant news must be made popular.Accepting the news as a force of positive change makes it powerful far and beyond its current purpose. Reading about Justin Bieber’s latest fight may be a waste of our time, but learning not to commit the same idiocies ourselves is priceless.