[chasd00]

> but every time I visit my parents now that they're retired, one of them always has a 24 hour news going and it's just non stop "you should be afraid" and "you should be angry" told to you by pretty faces smiling the whole time.

Don Henley wrote a song about that kind of news:

"We got the bubble headed bleached blonde

Comes on at five

She can tell you 'bout the plane crash with a gleam in her eye

It's interesting when people die

Give us dirty laundry"

https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/donhenley/dirtylaundry.html

[dredmorbius]

Great song.

And long before that, Yellow Journalism:

Journalism historian Frank Luther Mott used five characteristics to identify yellow journalism:

1. scare headlines in huge print, often sensationalizing minor news

2. lavish use of pictures, or imaginary drawings

3. use of faked interviews, misleading headlines, pseudoscience, and a parade of false learning from so-called experts

4. emphasis on full-color Sunday supplements, usually with superficial articles and comics

5. dramatic sympathy with the "underdog" against the system.

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_journalism>.

The same or highly similar tactics apply equally in the 2020s as they did in the 1880s (and before).

What many people don't realise: the "prestigious" journalistic prize, the Pulizter, is named for one of the most infamous low-quality yellow journalism publishers, Joseph Pulitzer. This is an early example of successful greenwashing of a reputation.

[Anthony-G]

Upvoted your comment but my inner pedant can’t help but point out that’s more an example of whitewashing rather than greenwashing (which itself is a derivative of whitewashing).

[dredmorbius]

Fair point ;-)

[trumpdong]

Plane crashes are one thing. They're going to happen, and what can you do about it?

Today's news is not plane crashes, it's how immigrants are burning down Seattle. Obviously total nonsense but a certain kind of person eats it right up.