I don't care about Kim's latest diet or Instagram post. I don't care about a petty feud between Kanye, Kim and Taylor Swift over a song lyric. I couldn't care less about the state of Kylie Jenner's lips and whether or not they are the result of injections. I just don't care and I'm tired of the media presenting them as something to be more cared about than the events that are happening in our world today.
As a current student of journalism, I've tried hard to cut major news outlets a little slack in regards to their content, but lately I'm coming up short.
Show me news stories about the starvation crises plaguing Venezuela. I want to be shocked by the narratives of the hundreds of children that pass out at school, because they don't have enough to eat. I want to be informed as to why the president of Venezuela opened the border into Columbia for the second time this month. I want to understand their crises so that I can put myself in a position to help.
I want to read about the military coup in Turkey, which I later found a story of on CNN's website – it was just hidden beneath “The truth on Gaga split rumors” and “Tiger Woods' career suffers new blow.” I want to read about the participants involved in the trial of a new HIV-preventative vaccine in South Africa that could give hope to millions. I want to read about how California has recently harnessed enough solar power to provide electricity for more than six million homes.
I understand that the media cannot report on every occurrence in the nation and overseas because of their obligation to report on the stories that will affect their audience the most. But who decided that I cared more about the last season of "Teen Wolf" (I'm looking at you, Buzzfeed) over a story about the multitude of new planets recently discovered by astronomers? Humans are making history across the globe and it seems like their stories have been continually drowned out by a constant stream of celebrity “news.”
I don't blame the media entirely, however, because they publish their work with the objective to get views, whether it's on television or the internet. The public supplies the views and the cycle continues.
I am in no way shaming feature and entertainment writing; in fact, I love reading feature pieces because they allow more room for creativity and give the audience a break from the concise manner of hard news writing. Their existence isn't the issue, the issue is valuing stories about celebrity feuds and diet trends over important worldly events that should be talked about.
In short, I don't want to read “fluff pieces” about Taylor Swift's failed relationships or Ivanka Trump's childhood – I want to read about issues that matter. Let's start publishing meaningful news stories about the world around us and leave celebrity reporting to the TMZs of the journalism world.
