Today, there is a rampant growth in the media of pseudo-events. These events are events that are in a sense "fake" because while they might have happened or will happen, but they are staged and scripted for the news. Example of an event is the Presidential Debate that occurs around the time of the campaigns for the positions of the US President because that event is unrealistic when thinking of a real debate, which would take much more time and not the minutes that the candidates are given. The person that is chosen to moderate the event is there mostly to provide "star power" and ask questions. The presidential candidates are given miniscule amounts of time to respond to the question or truly debate with the other opponent. The questions being asked are for the most part not the meat of what should be asked to figure out how good of a job one might do in the position. Also there is a huge crowd usually, so the person before becoming president has to be able to speak quickly, succinctly and in an educated fashion. Though that is not all, for the candidate has to be able to do the job in effect before doing the job. The event is scripted in advanced for the most part and the candidates are very cautious and not candid in their responses. The purpose of the event is to push a certain type of person and personality into the spotlight that people would vote for no matter how qualified.
Then there is the hyped event of December 21, 2012 that many in news and entertainment media have claimed that the world will have apocalyptic events occur. Though this is not definitively a pseudo event by definition, it needs mentioning because not all events are clear as to whether they are a pseudo event or not. Since this is an event that is being predicted it is not real in the sense of happening, but media and entertainment are making it out like this event is definitely going to happen. They have come out with stories and even a movie set to be in the theaters soon. The date is supposed to be a time when there is a cosmic alignment and tectonic plates causing many earthquakes and tsunamis. I do not know what you think about this possibility, but when I first heard about it, I thought that while it was very unlikely due to my life experiences that it is terrifying to think about the possibility of it even happening. The purpose of this event is to cause hysteria and skepticism in society.
While news media are causing society to be more fearful of the future, society is doing the same to news media when it comes to the newspaper industry. In the United States, there has been a decrease in newspaper readership since news went on the internet. A perfect example is the Boston Globe, which is run by the New York Times. If that company can not stay in business, then what hope is there for small newspaper companies? Well, I believe that people in American society no longer sit while eating breakfast and drinking coffee to read the newspaper. Today, people are constantly on the move and rather read the news on the internet because that can be done while checking emails and social networking sites. This change is big because while it opens the door to less reliable news outlets, people will be able to check out many diverse articles on the same issue and discern the truth. Where as with the newspaper there is just one company's view. Furthermore, fewer trees will be used to make paper, thus theoretically saving more trees. Times are changing and companies have to adapt, that is what sparks innovation. The future seems to hold much promise for innovation as things seem to be changing only faster and faster.