Couldn’t agree more with this. In the simplest way of seeing it, I’ve always just assumed the media and the populace feed one another when it comes to paranormal belief. And the media doesn’t really want a complex or nuanced answer to the question of paranormal belief.
My jaded opinion is that they want whatever answer will feed their sound-bite machine so they can sell more of their papers/time slots/ web page hits, etc.
Making a serious study of this takes too much real work and they are most often not capable of doing the detailed work or interested in it, again, beyond a quick hit to please their reader/viewership. Media promotes the BS because they find a willing and receptive audience who, in turn, see their beliefs mainstreamed. As I mentioned, my jaded opinion only. But I doubt I’m too far off the mark.
You’ve written a terrific piece that does try to answer the question seriously, whether or not that journalist got more than she bargained for.
Couldn’t agree more with this. In the simplest way of seeing it, I’ve always just assumed the media and the populace feed one another when it comes to paranormal belief. And the media doesn’t really want a complex or nuanced answer to the question of paranormal belief.
My jaded opinion is that they want whatever answer will feed their sound-bite machine so they can sell more of their papers/time slots/ web page hits, etc.
Making a serious study of this takes too much real work and they are most often not capable of doing the detailed work or interested in it, again, beyond a quick hit to please their reader/viewership. Media promotes the BS because they find a willing and receptive audience who, in turn, see their beliefs mainstreamed. As I mentioned, my jaded opinion only. But I doubt I’m too far off the mark.
You’ve written a terrific piece that does try to answer the question seriously, whether or not that journalist got more than she bargained for.