I’ve been tracking Todays Most Viewed news on Stuff for a while now – my impression is that it’s mostly to do with sex, nudity, explicit violence, or gossip. Out of the 10 stories featured each day only one or two are ‘real’ news stories where the information might influence our lives other than for titillation.
Sadly, that says a lot about the audience for news.
Newspapers, particularly the online version, play a big role in this desire for rubbish ‘news’ by publishing the crap in the first place.
And they now add to this ‘news for the lowest common denominator’ but running polls on inane and offensive subjects. See the image for a case in point.
What can be gained by this polling?
It’s not scientific, it’s not newsworthy.
It is demeaning, and it is sexist.
I can be criticised for clicking on the RESULTS tab (at least I refuse to vote, but Stuff will have registered that click and probably made the assumption that I was interested enough for them to keep running such rubbish), only to find that Yulia Townsend is winning by 2:1.
Q:Who sells more CD’s? Who has a bigger record deal? Who is a better singer?
A: Hayley Westenra by a huge margin.
Stuff would have us believe that it’s more important to be hot – it’s not.
That question was in the same league as a recent lunch table conversation I was involved in, ‘who’s a better role model – Britney Spears or Amy Winehouse?’ Amy won by unanimous agreement.
I take it this lunch table conversation was an informal affair and not a Wellington Chamber of Commerce sponsored function?
It was the former, although the CE of the Chamber of Commerce owns a winery so he’d go for Amy as well I expect.
Hi
As YULIA’s manager and husband and as a person who is also a Haylee and Elizabeth fan I’d like to suggest that’s it’s not about who is hotter or better, but rather it’s about inspiring people. They each do that differently and they do it well.
YULIA is 7 times platinum in NZ and in fact has never exported her music. When she gets the chance to record and export her CD’s who is to say that she might achieve even more than she has and more than many other popular singers? We won’t know until she tries.
My viewpoint is that Haylee is an amazing artist and a wonderful person. I encourage the NZ public to get to know and to support ALL kiwi artists and get behind NZ music. If we make lots of money, we spend it here in NZ, we could shop at your business! So if NZ artists succeed… NZ succeeds.
Hi Glyn
Thanks for your comment. I re-read my original post and realise I might have appeared as if I was casting
dispersionsaspersions on Yulia’s talent.My criticism was more directed at Stuff and the Fairfax group for running such an inane poll. As I stated, it’s sexist and demeaning for all concerned – as if Yulia or Hayley’s ‘hotness’ is the thing we need to rate them on.
Casting “aspersions”, not “dispersions”.
Thank-you Tom, for the correction.