Insubstantial Media

This is a post to say, seriously? And, what? And also, why?

Last night I was out buying groceries and as I was standing in the checkout line it occurred to me that every single magazine flanking me was either about fashion or make-up, celebrity gossip, or TV soap operas. The more I thought about it the more I realized that this is the majority of what I see in the media. I have to actually search out substantial news.

Now, I know, I know, all stores stock those type of magazines in the checkout isles in hopes of an impulsive, last minute purchase. And I know it’s not difficult to turn the TV to CNN or to type Ms. magazine into a Google search or pick up The New York Times or the Women’s Press newspapers. What bothers me, though, is how readily available some media is in comparison to other media. The Women’s Press doesn’t show up everywhere, and neither does Ms. magazine. Fluff magazines show up tenfold. So, why?

To me it seems that the most widely read publications and most widely watched channels keep people starved for information. I wonder how many of these fluff magazines and fluff channels covered the law allowing same-sex marriages in Connecticut on Wednesday, November 13. How many covered the delayed anti-abortion law in Oklahoma or the release of Esha Momeni, a feminist activist, from an Iranian prison?

I know that in a study McQuail, Blumler, and Brown found diversion to be the leading reason people used media. Diversion from daily routines, current situations or problems—perhaps even a diversion from ‘hard’ news itself. Perhaps diversion is the reason for readily available mass amounts of fluff media. But perhaps it is to reinforce hegemony and the status quo. Or perhaps because the media is supported by the corporate business world it in turn supports that system by creating and enforcing cultural structures and expectations. If certain issues are hidden, or at least not as readily accessible, and only certain kinds of media can boast easy access, this creates a kind of social conformity. With commercially-funded media there is little room for critical appraisal and little room for change. Maybe the reason there is an abundance of fluff magazines and a lack of substantial news sources is not one reason at all, but a mix of social control, social conformity, hegemony, the statues quo and capitalism. After all, media does maintain the role of a gatekeeper.