News is supposed to give us information in order to function more effectively in a complex World. However, pseudo reality, like reality TV shows, music videos, and the lifestyles of the rich and famous makes the unreal or out of touch looks so entertaining that many people no longer care about reality. And because most people are so tuned into unreality, many can no longer care to differentiate between reality and unreality, even if they could. If someone hears something they do not want to deal with or believe, they just say, “That’s crazy,” or they find someone to take down and unfairly blame for the situation, often times without that individual being around to defend themselves, and will go as far as to make a punishment for them. New critical observers, including the networks themselves, resist any longer the notions that TV news has become so infused by the techniques of entertainment that, for all practical purposes, TV news, in many cases, has become just another form of entertainment. The morning news shows have so consciously and deliberately adopted entertainment formats that the networks not only admit openly that they have become pure entertainment, but they even discuss and debate the percentages of entertainment content the shows are supposed to have. It is probably even fairer to say that at best the thinking of the news networks is perfectly schizophrenic on the issue. The barriers between the entertainment and news divisions have now merged and instead of hard news, you get news with personality. Having crossed over the line into entertainment, the nightly news programs are becoming news soap operas because they are not only face competition from other news programs, which are also trying to jockey their position, but from other prime time TV programs that they are trying to displace. TV news has become almost pure entertainment is clear from its adoption of most of the techniques that are characteristic of entertainment. For instance, after a tragedy, reporters always use the statement, “Our thoughts and prayers go out to those affected,” knowing maybe only 15 percent of them will actually say a prayer.

The most obvious features that news is entertainment is: The glitzy, hi-technology studio sets; the pretty faces, not only women, but men wearing blush, wigs, lip-gloss and lipstick. The entertaining personalities of the anchors and special assignment people; the easy flowing conversation and back and forth banter among the news team that has the appearance of being spontaneous, but is often rehearsed as much as a talk show (at best we witness a form of improvisational melodrama); the fact that rarely, if ever, do we witness open conflict, debate, and confrontation between the news anchors. The fact that mainly only surface issues in the form of numbers get reported (e.g., how many mines are there in Syria, how many combatant soldiers have been captures, etc.), not the deeper why’s of the situation. There are stunning visuals which generally introduce the shows by zooming in on the city or region in relations to the rest of the United States of America; the slick graphics that transition the movement between news segments; the tantalizing teasers with their accompanying provocative headlines announcing segments to comes; the intermingling of the titillating and the humorous with the semi-serious, especially on the morning “news” programs.; the constant interspersing of the bizarre, celebrity guest-sports, the inane, and the potentially World shattering. The overall effect is one where the studio set, the look, and the feel of the show, the newscasters as both personal friends and storytellers of a very special kind to the viewing public predominate. The news no longer just informs you; it entertains you. Ha Ha Ha, Ha!