Beware of TV anchors who are paid exorbitant amounts of money. News reporting should be straightforward. BBC 's World News is an excellent model . But when someone like Katie Couric is paid $ 15 million per year there is something else in play. Ratings and market share of CBS is that something else. If the ratings aren't high enough then sponsors will not spend millions to advertise on CBS. If that happens then CBS will not make millions in profits and Couric will not make her millions either.
This market share and ratings game also has a direct influence on how and what news will be presented. For example, in the pursuit of viewers, the nightly news will be presented in an unchallenging, dumbed down type of format. I.E. the 9/11 terror attack was presented as a validation of American foreign policy in the Middle East.
Question. Wouldn't a better U.S. foreign policy have precluded such a disaster? Had the news over the years about the Middle East been doctored to retain popular American concepts ?But the requirement of keeping market share prevents challenging the viewers with questions about national direction and the goals of foreign policies in all its intracies or who is setting policy.
Lying or deceptively reporting the news may aid sales of detergents in a mass market but it isn't a way to inform about issues of life and death.
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