It is sad to see so many people become mesmerized by the constant gossip, ludicrous lies and scandal that so often get thrown at them. What is more is that they don’t only believe this but find some sort of joy in it too. The simple fact is that we have been numbed of all sensitivity towards violence, rape and murder, and the newspapers have to keep up with our continuous craving for juicier, more ‘interesting’ news. The death of a four year old child seems to be made unimportant compared to the ridiculous resolutions passed by one of our ministers. This is what sensationalism is all about. A public ploy with the sole purpose of selling newspapers – and it works beautifully!

The business of news-making - and it is most certainly a business – has two key components nowadays: to influence and to sell. Unfortunately, to inform is not very high on their priority list anymore. This is the simple truth that many of us don’t seem to realise. The media and newspapers in particular have transformed into a corporation that will practically do anything to simply increase their profits even to the extent of altering news. Our idea and expectation of news agencies are for them to objectively inform us of what is happening around us and not to entertain us with information that time and again humiliates others. We oftentimes think the catchy headlines of an article are ingenious and clever. In my opinion, the only things these newspapers catch out are their readers.

It wasn’t too long ago when I came across a poster with the words written: “Priest murdered by upcoming cult”. I was shocked and interested at the same time and decided to learn a bit more about the incident. I managed to follow up the story for several days after which it seemed to have been discontinued. A few days later, though, I came across a small article (unnoticeable for many who skim through newspapers) which explained that the priest only suffered a heart attack and that the police suspected foul play initially. I was amazed at how the media completely blew out of proportion the simple incident of a heart attack. I thought about this for quite some time and came to the realisation that I would never have bought that first newspaper if the poster had said that a Priest died of a heart attack. Newspaper companies know how to attract attention, and their readership’s susceptibility to this is summed up in one simple phrase – sensationalism sells.

One of the most important points to remember is that there are two types of reality. The one is objective reality. The other is mediated reality. This is the world as portrayed by the media. In an ideal world, objective and mediated reality would be one and the same. Unfortunately, this is not so. There is a term in the media world that is known particularly to those involved in the area of politics, called 'spinning'. This means to spin a story into a desired perspective. The fact that such a term exists at all makes it plain that there is a serious problem and this most certainly acts as a contributing factor to sensationalism.

The role of the journalist has slowly yet insidiously changed from educator to entertainer, and not enough is being done to stop it. Instead, we are helping these profit-hungry media conglomerates by aiding them in their public ploy of sensationalism. It is up to us, as a society, to remind the journalist why he is here, and who is he here to serve. The bottom line remains – sensationalism sells newspapers. That is the truth and the discerning reader already knows it.