Examples Of Negative Sensationalism

Negative Sensationalism
Throughout the week, talk shows such as Maury and Jerry Springer are displayed on our TV screens. Whether or not a person is a vigorous viewer, the storyline of the show comes up in a conversation at least once a week. Talk shows regularly take a look into the life choices of a certain person or group of people. In the text “In Defense of Talk Shows”, Barbara Ehrenreich raises the question of the moral conflicts presented in talk shows and presents the idea that they are an exploitation of lower class people. Ehrenreich’s claim throughout the text is strong, and is supported by a segment in the documentary Bowling for Columbine. If the ideas presented by both Ehrenreich and Michael Moore are correct, I’d like to propose,

In a segment of the documentary Bowling for Columbine, Michael Moore looks into the show COPS. Moore focuses on how the people that are cast on the show COPS are lower class minorities. Throughout the segment, he shows clips of the show COPS and viewers take a look at various occasions where minorities get violently shoved to the ground, arrested, and shot at. Moore suggests that the show can be said to influence people to be scared of lower class minorities. Although Ehrenreich claims talk shows mock the lower class while Moore claims the show COPS causes people to be scared of the lower class minorities, they are along the same lines. Moore’s segment in the documentary Bowling for Columbine also supports Ehrenreich’s argument that the shows humiliate the lower class. Just as the clips of minorities arrested cause fear, they also give a sense of humiliation. The clips give viewers a sense of resignation when you see the restlessness of the lower class’ heads being forced against pavement. Both ideas presented by Moore and Ehrenreich suggest that these shows are negative sensationalism toward the lower