Spiral of Silence In one of my classes Monday we had a guest speaker from NBC News, Susan Tolley. She was talking about how much competition there is between the area newsrooms and her own. It baffled me to hear how competitive it really is! Someone asked her what she thinks about entertainment becoming bigger than hard news. She of course thought it was wrong, but she understood how our generation wants soft news more and more.

One thing she said that stuck with me was that even though all of her reporters were appalled at the amount of attention Paris Hilton going to jail was getting, they are were intrigued by it. She said that if you had gone in to the newsroom at the time Paris was getting taken to jail, every reporter there would have been watching it live online.

It's crazy how much soft news affects us! Even professional journalists want to know what's happening in the entertainment world! Since we had been talking about this in class, I thought it brought out a great example pertaining specifically to our area of study.

The effects this could have on journalism are astonishing, of course. Hopefully it won't become bigger in time, to where even in newsrooms soft news will be the priority. Of course I'm sure that could never happen.

But Susan did say that news channels have to think outside the box to keep up with the public's demands. Online they have a section for each subject in the news, including entertainment. In the past, it seems like that section would have been cut out. But as long as it doesn't overshadow hard news, I guess it's ok.  ¶ posted by Brenna at 1:11 PM •