SENSATIONALISM

I believe that news sensationalism, like anything, can be both a good thing and a bad thing. In a cut throat competitive market, media corporations must do what they have to do to attract viewers, which usually requires breaking stories and covering issues that people find unique and interesting. The more significant or appealing a story appears the better the chances for a positive viewer response. In this sense, sensationalism is a good thing. As long as the media sources do not fabricate or "kill" the story. Once a media source crosses the line from making a story attractive to lying or quite frankly becoming annoying with their obsession, all credibility is lost and the source can be thrown into the same category as any tabloid magazine.
News sensationalism, I think, is making a story more attractive by highlighting the shocking or sexy parts of a story and glorifying them. This can get obsessive. Once this happens the news value tends to go way down. One of my favorite examples is in sports media with Terrell Owens. ESPN covered every little disruption of the Cowboys receiver they could making into national news, when really it was generally stuff that did not matter to the game, the team or the fans at all. For a while it attracted many viewers, but by the end of the season even hardcore Sports Center junkies were a little beaten down by the obsession.