Television is a very powerful communication tool. Why do we use it to spread such unimportant information?

Question

This question was asked at the Dropping Knowledge event on 9th September by Michael Graham Richard, 24, Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. To find out more about Dropping Knowledge check out our blog:

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Answer 1

First of all, we the public must understand that television and all media for that matter, are in existance because of money. Someone owns these tv, radio stations and newspapers. TV and radio sell ads(commercials) for revenue. Newspapers on the other hand sell print ads and also charge a subscription fee. Their only agenda is to make money.

In order to acquire businesses to advertise on their stations, TV and radio must out perform its competition. They do this by giving the public what it wants to see and hear. If J.Q. Public wants sensationalism then BAMM! then XYZ station brings you stories like the Ramsey case in Colorado, or the girl who disappeared in Aruba. These occurances have no bearing on the overall lives of the viewing public, but make great news. So called "journalists" will scrape the bottom of the barrel to find anything they can use or invent to startle and shock people.

Media is BIG POWERFUL BUSINESS. If you don't like what's on TV, the only person you can blame is yourself. Turn it off and watch what happens.

Answer 2

You see, the people that run television networks make a lot of money. Their greed deepens until they no longer care for communicating important things-the stations that make the most money have the most pointless shows, such as the Disney channel, which I'm not sure where all that is run, but anyway...however, through the news, television carries out its real potential. We are able to see what is going on in all parts of the world with the push of a button. It is a pretty fascinating invention, but taken so much for granted. Of course, entertainment is a great thing when taken in small quantities, but feeding the drones that have become the youth of the world stupid and meaningless information has made them-or us-somewhat useless. Gameshows are a good way to keep your mind in check; they don't teach lessons such as "the best way to get a girlfriend" but rather usefull knowledge, if you watch the right ones. reality tv is another thing that I cannot stand, simply because it is taking advantage of the clay minds of youth so that it can show you the stupid things other mindless youthful drones are doing and make wads of cash through it.

the point of my answer is this: its all for the money.

Answer 3

I find television an annoying intruder in my home, much like the telephone. Naturally I find the latter useful, but for my purposes, not for others to abuse. I was raised without Television. It was taken out of our house when I was five years old. We read the paper, news magazines, and listened to the radio. We were well informed and had plenty of spare time to go outside and play and share in family events. As a result, I'm by far, a more creative person and well read. Even as a fourth grader my father would chose an appropriate news article for us to read and then tell us to circle every word we didn't understand, look it up in the dictionary and then come discuss the article with him. My vocabulary grew, I knew what was going on in the world and I was capable of discussing it. TV came back into our home when I was sixteen and my grandmother passed away. We inherited hers. It held no interest for us and still doesn't today. I'm in my early 40's now. My family has television but I don't turn it on once in 6 months. I chose the information that I'm interested in via other means.

Answer 4

TV is used to spread unimportant information because basically they won't to make money out of it.... also some people that have not been in schools i.e. uneducated think that TV is always right or that the TV does spread important information. like how to cook and the news, not that there always right. but some could argue that the TV does spread important information and unimportant information and which ever one they won't to see they can. also you cant expected every one that has a TV to just watch important information all the time as people with jobs need a brake.

Answer 5

It happens that there is a limit to how many radio and television signals can be squeezed into the available spectrum. It was decided in the 1920s and 30s that regulation was going to be necessary, and national governments chose to initiate said regulation.
It soon became clear that far more entities wanted access to television for their own purposes, so governments began to sell exclusive licenses to certain frequencies. Those who could afford the licenses also encountered ever-increasing costs associated with their broadcasting, and discovered that selling advertising time during their on-air day was the way to meet those costs. Every user of the electromagnetic spectrum pays. Those who can pay the most get the most air time - it's simple economics.
One might question whether more important messages deserve air time - and they certainly do. The consumer has to know how to access such messages - and the need for those messages varies wildly. Do I really need to know there's a typhoon about t o strike Sumatra when I and all my family and all my business dealings are restricted to the Northeastern United States? No, I do not - even though Sumatrans would be delighted to have early warning of that storm.
You can search online for resources for information you deem important: you may want accurage and up-to-date weather information right from the NWS - the "horses mouth" so to speak. So you buy a scanner radio from your friendly Radio Shack and program it to NWS frequencies. Many such solutions are out there - you just have to find them. Good luck.

Answer 6

Because the content is delivered mostly 'free' to consumers, it is the advertisers who pay for it. (Cable and satellite customers basically pay for the transmission systems.) Advertisers try to reach various demographics, and spend their dollars on shows that consumers watch, and hopefully will buy their products and services. To advertisers, that is 'important.'

If we had some committee sit down and what was "useful" and what was not, that would be censorship, and in most western countries, that much control is strongly rejected. Despite a modest amount of content control, nearly everything is permitted on television - what you might call both important & unimportant.

Like most things in life, there are many sides to an issue. On the one hand, TV can be used to communicate news, political debates, and documentaries about critical issues. On another hand, TV has cartoons, WWE and reruns of Married With Children.

Answer 7

You have answered your own question. Because television is such a very powerful communication tool, it is in the best interest of the powers that be, to use it as a distraction from many, real, important issues. If television were only used to spread, true, useful, important information, enough people would become educated, concerned, and infuriated about the issues facing the world around them, politicians and big business manipulating, lying to, and ripping them off, that they may get off of their lazy, complacent butts and work towards meaningful changes to the world around them. But as long as we have Laguna Beach, Monday Night Football, and Dog the Bounty Hunter, the people at the top will remain at the top and sadly, society will continue to deteriorate.

Answer 8

Too many cheap shot journalists. They need little or no education and in some cases do very little work to find bits of unimportant info. Some are wanna be's. Don't get me wrong. There are many highly trained journalists and they have the high paying jobs but lets face it. How can they keep news entertaining 24 hours a day 7 days a week without reporting BS. We keep them in business by hugging the TV and not finding something constructive to do. To top it off we are very gullible and take it in like a sponge. We got to take some of the blame.

Answer 9

To start, it depends on what you mean by "unimportant information." If you mean silly things, the answer is one thing. If you mean news, the answer has to be something else.
I seem to like something that I thought up one day, people work too hard for things that they do in life, to meet someone and date, to work and keep their jobs, to even stay in shape, to have to work even more when they get home. The television is an entertainment vessel, it is a way to relax, in the way that the individual wants to do so. Some silly things are shown, and will always be shown, but then you have other channels that you can turn to. True, things are made harder than they should ever have to be, but the relaxing period would be required at any rate.

Answer 10

Now TV as a communication tool is brilliant. I would love to have a video cell phone to share gossip with all my friends!! Oh, sorry. I mean to share important information with all my friends. So uh, let's discuss Wittgenstein's philosophy of language and the nature of meaning, shall we?

Well, if you want information and knowledge you can watch the history channel, Nova, PBS all sorts of information. There is a lot of educational programming. If it is not shown at the time that you want, just record it and watch it later. Better yet, turn the TV off and spend time at the library reading and researching. I think libraries in Canada are free, aren't they? They are in the US.

People mostly watch TV to be entertained. All the inane programs are successful because people like inane programming. Further proof of this is that sponsors pay a LOT of money to advertise during inane programs.