Friday, September 6, 2013

Miley and CNN share a moneymaker

This blog is in response to this Onion article: http://www.theonion.com/articles/let-me-explain-why-miley-cyrus-vma-performance-was,33632/

As a bonafide lover of pop culture myself, Miley's performance was of great entertainment to me. While I didn't actually watch it, I did not find it necessary due to the media's extensive coverage. For days it seemed impossible to escape pictures of Miley next to pictures of raw chicken, or comparisons between Robin Thicke and a Footlocker employee. Maybe it was possible to escape, but I didn't really want to.

CNN clearly picked up on this. They plopped it on their site, front and center, and they made big bucks. Its hard to decide what is more awesome, near nudity and subpar booty shaking or cold, hard cash. The day after the VMA's, CNN got both. 

From a business perspective, this is an obvious choice. From a business perspective, it would be irresponsible not to feature this. From a business perspective, CNN is right on.

Is CNN a business or a vehicle for journalism? Both. That is why there very clearly is gray area when it comes to this.

As far as good journalism goes, CNN did not show this. For a organization that prides itself on being an honest, hard hitting outlet, they really dropped the ball on this one. This is not that important at the moment in comparison to other world events. Placement on a page is huge, and can sometimes say more than the article itself. When the article is about Miley Cyrus' dance moves, I am almost certain that it does.

As sad and confusing as it is to see a reputable news outlet pick cash over class, I understand it. If you just look at Mizzou students alone, it is hard to ignore the mass exodus from the J School to the Business School following their Freshman year. Humans search for comfort, and a lot of times that means money. It is not shocking that the people at CNN acted in this way, but it is disappointing.

It is the job of journalists to give the public the information that it is most important for them to know. Now that even the most reputable news outlets are failing to do this, it makes it harder to be an american citizen, and the credibility of journalism as a whole is dwindling.

Lucky for us, we have zoomed in pictures of Miley's lumpy butt to help us forget. 

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