Posted by Ilya Somin: CNN Website Gives Edwards Affair Higher Billing than the Russia--Georgia Fighting: http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2008_08_03-2008_08_09.shtml#1218255710
It's telling that, as of midnight today, [1]the CNN website is giving the Russia-Georgia conflict a lower billing than the latest revelations about John Edwards' extramarital affair. This order of priorities is ludicrous from the standpoint of the real relative importance of these events. But it does fit [2]my theory that most people who follow political news do so primarily to get information they find interesting or entertaining rather than to learn about objectively important issues in order to become better-informed voters. A tawdry affair by a presidential candidate who dropped out of the race a long time ago is insignificant compared to a bloody conflict with major implications for US strategic interests in a crucial part of the world (to say nothing of the loss of life). But the affair may have greater entertainment value, and entertainment is what CNN must provide in order to give the majority of viewers what they want and keep up its ratings. References 1. http://www.cnn.com/ 2. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=916963 _______________________________________________ Volokh mailing list [email protected] http://lists.powerblogs.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/volokh
