ISTANBUL — The twisted relationship between pop culture and mainstream media causes the appetite for it to become more insatiable. We produce our plastic icons and devour them as we become hungry. Not to mention most of the time we don't even produce them and just become a gear of cultural imperialism.
The term newsworthy is a two-faced term.
First of all it is used to describe worthy events that go unnoticed by media. It is also used to describe news which has no real worth. But they are related as the rule of communicating vessels indicates. One of them can cast out the other and the other can replace its counterpart. Therefore, the first one is usually under the microscope and the other is neglected.
Technically, in the end the determination of whether a news story is worthy or not is an editorial choice. If the readers don't like the choice they either criticize the paper or drop it altogether.
But as Ombudsman I have to warn my paper about this.
Last year Steffen Konrath showed an interesting statistic at the World Publishing Expo in Berlin. "Papers like The New York Times and The Guardian have only 2 or 3 percent of celebrity news with minimum manpower while the rest of the paper is filled with news and columns in their daily cycle."
It can be said that in Turkey this ratio is much higher. Therefore this balance should be held in the paper to maintain the reader's sense of agenda.
Tabloids are a fact of both life and media. So abandoning them altogether doesn't seem possible but readers may demand different kinds of tabloid content. Current, diverse and quality are key here. We should refrain from being gluttonous and focus on a healthy, balanced diet.
Keep up to date with what’s happening in Turkey,
it’s region and the world.
You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.