Infotainment
Infotainment (a
Background
The terms "infotainment" and "infotainer" were first used in September 1980 at the Joint Conference of
An earlier, slightly variant term, "infortainment" was the theme of the 1974 convention of the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System, the association of college radio stations in the United States. The event held April 5–7, 1974, at the Statler Hilton Hotel (now the Hotel Pennsylvania), defined the term as the "nexus between Information and Entertainment".[citation needed]
Historically, the term infotainment was used to discredit woman journalists who were assigned soft news jobs. Soft news was expected to be consumed by only women,[7] but eventually it became its own genre of news media.[8]
Infotainment as news
Infotainment can generally be identified by its entertaining nature. Infotainment may also involve the use of flashy graphics, fast-paced editing, music,
A precise academic consensus on the definition of what constitutes infotainment/soft news as opposed to hard news has not yet been reached. Many authors have commented that the ideas “are often not clearly defined or not defined at all”. [10] Multiple authors have published their ideas of what each type of media involves, but they vary widely.
Some authors use only the topicality and timeliness aspects of a story to determine whether news is hard news or soft news; the more topical and timely, the "harder" and more serious the news is. Other authors have more complex definitions, defining hard news as "breaking events involving top leaders, major issues, or significant disruptions in the routines of daily life," and soft news as "news that typically is more personality-centered, less time-bound, more practical, and more incident-based than other news."[10]
There may also be serious reports which are not event-driven—coverage of important social, economic, legal, or technological trends—
"News you can use"
The spectrum of "seriousness" and "importance" is not well-defined, and different media organizations make different tradeoffs. "News you can use", a common marketing phrase highlighting a specific genre of journalism, spans the gray area.
Tips, advice and hobby-based news fall at the infotainment end of this genre. Warnings about imminent natural disasters or acute domestic security threats are considered more serious, and other media programming (even non-news channels) is usually interrupted to announce these events as
Criticism
Most infotainment television programs on
Today's broadcasting of what is considered "hard" informative news is sometimes diluted with attributes of fiction or drama, and infotainment.[14] Some argue that a catalyst for this may be the acquisition of major news networks by conglomerates primarily based in the entertainment business (e.g. Viacom‐Paramount owned CBS News; ABC News has been part of the Disney corporation since 1996; CNN is a key constituent of Time‐Warner, Fox News is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, one of the world's biggest media conglomerates).[15] The ownership structure can be traced using infotainment. For example, there may be an infotainment story on celebrities that are involved in the making of a movie produced by the news channel's parent company.
Public critique
In October 2010 at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, American political satirist Jon Stewart made a metaphorical statement regarding the media today: "The press can hold its magnifying glass up to our problems . . . illuminating issues heretofore unseen, or they can use that magnifying glass to light ants on fire and then perhaps host a week of shows on the sudden, unexpected, dangerous flaming ant epidemic." This statement referred to the news media's ability to focus in on the real problems of people, and transform them into infotainment that is publicized to entertain, possibly exacerbating the issue at the same time.
In a critique of infotainment, Bonnie Anderson of News Flash cited a
Well-known infotainers
Infotainers are entertainers in infotainment media, such as news anchors or satirists who cross the line between journalism (quasi-journalism) and entertainment. Barbara Walters, was for many an iconic infotainer; she pioneered many techniques still used by infotainment media today.[8] Other notable examples from U.S. media include Oprah Winfrey, Jon Stewart, Bill O’Reilly, Rachel Maddow, Alex Jones and Geraldo Rivera.[6]
When Geraldo Rivera became the host of his own news-oriented talk show on CNBC, others within the NBC organization voiced their protest, including Tom Brokaw, who was reported to have threatened to quit. Rivera had a notorious history as a "sleaze reporter"[17] and tabloid talk show host, on which he and others would review controversial and sensationalistic topical subject matter.
Infotainment on social media
Infotainment is now able to reach an ever-growing audience through the widespread popularity and use of social media applications. In the case of social media websites such as Twitter and Facebook, which were originally created for the purpose of connecting, re-connecting and sharing personal thoughts and information with public, they have now provided a new medium for the spread of infotainment.
The interactive nature of social media has also allowed for the consumers of infotainment to become producers, generating their own news and commentary, some of which is often used by journalists as material for stories. [15]
Impact
The broadcast of important or interesting events was originally meant to inform society of local or international events for their own safety and awareness. However, local news broadcasters are more regularly covering local events in a way that provokes entertainment in viewers, with arresting footage, animated visuals, and rhetorical headlines that generate opinions.[15]
The media's ability to tell and sell stories allows them the ability to not only to document tragedy, but to misrepresent or exploit it. As is seen in the news (with stories of extreme obesity or unusual deformities) some forms of infotainment can commodify real people through their personal tragedies or scandals.[citation needed]
See also
- Amusing Ourselves to Death – 1985 book by Neil Postman
- Documentary television – Genre of television program
- Edutainment – Media designed to educate through entertainment
- In-car entertainment – Automotive entertainment system
- Infomercial – Long television commercial
- Junk food news – Sardonic term for trivial news stories
- Least objectionable program
- Popular science – Science content aimed at an audience of laymen
- Product placement – Marketing technique
- Subliminal stimuli – Sensory stimuli below an individual's threshold for conscious perception
Footnotes
- ^ a b "the definition of infotainment". Dictionary.com.
- ^ Demers, David, "Dictionary of Mss Communication and Media Research: a guide for students, scholars and professionals," Marquette, 2005, p.143.
- ^ Merriam- Webster, The Cambridge Online Dictionary
- ^ Cambridge Online Dictionary
- ISBN 978-1-84334-718-7. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
- ^ a b c "infotainment - television program".
- ISBN 9780195120486– via Internet Archive.
infotainment women journalists-Car. -cars.
- ^ a b "How Barbara Walters Invented the Internet".
- ^ "Larry King, Breezy Interviewer of the Famous and Infamous, Dies at 87". The New York Times. 2021-01-23. Retrieved 2021-01-23.
- ^ S2CID 5731016.
- S2CID 157511120.
- S2CID 145451919.
- ^ Campbell, R., Martin, R. C, and Fabos, B. G. Media & culture: An introduction to mass communication. Bedford/St.Martin's, 2012
- S2CID 145289321.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-118-54155-5
- ^ Anderson, Bonnie M. (2004). News Flash. Wiley. pp. 1, 33.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-03-20.