ST. BONAVENTURE (May 10) – Brian Williams of NBC lands in Heathrow, London, and gets off the plane to cover the royal wedding. He checks his Blackberry after his flight for an update on the storms in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Williams sees the death toll hit 83 and continue rising. As he leaves the airport the number of deaths updated to 172. Before reaching central London he directs the driver to get off the highway. Williams got back on a plane and headed to Alabama to cover the tragedy that would soon dominate NBC’s newscast.
The tornadoes that ripped through the Southeast on April 27 covered news channels from April 25 to May 1, accounting for 15 percent of news coverage, according to the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism News Coverage Index.
The earthquake in Japan and powerful tsunami on March 11, as reported by The New York Times, killed nearly 20,000 people according to PEJ. The story of the catastrophe in Japan accounted for more than three-quarters of airtime on broadcast and cable news channels
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Today stories on Japan and Alabama have faded from the headlines and have become replaced by stories lacking newsworthy content, say St. Bonaventure University professors and students.
Students say that the content of news stories has started to diminish. They say that stories that should be constantly updated have been replaced by less newsworthy stories.
According to PEJ, media outlets sent their top anchors to London to report on the royal wedding.
The royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, accounted for 11 percent of news coverage from April 25 to May 1. Tornadoes in the Southeast, a green light for the Bin Laden mission and unrest in the Middle East also happened during this time, according to PEJ.
Students say instead of hearing news on a wedding they would rather hear about stories with more newsworthy content.
“Okay, some people are getting married well, if we're going to talk about marriage, how about updating the public about the gay marriage laws in California and its status as it works through the appeals courts,” says Gabrielle Piraino, a senior honors classical languages and English major.“It’s no longer the primary public focus the news sources aren't concerned.”
As major news stories start to appear less in the headlines, professors said they do what they can to keep their students informed.
John Hanchette, an associate professor at the Russell J. Jandoli School of Journalism and Mass Communication, says that he tends to assume that his students have not watched the news, but he wants his students to know what’s going on in Japan.
“I’ve been teaching it in my editing class,” says Hanchette. “I just want them to hear about it from a current events standpoint. I want them to be aware of what is going on in the world.”
The content of the stories shown more frequently on news stations have lost the hard-news content students, professors say.
“Today I’d say it has gone from 70 percent hard news to being about 40 percent news and I’m being generous with that,” says Hanchette. “Now most of it is celebrity related, false news, dancing competitions.”
Students say that news channels have become more concerned with stories lacking newsworthy content.
“I feel as if the current media is focusing on miniscule things, almost ridiculous things that yes, overshadow the real events of the world,” says Matthew O’Connell, a freshman marketing major.
Students say that the content of news stories has started to decrease. They say that stories being shown are not newsworthy and people’s perception of news will be affected. However some students argue that people’s perceptions won’t be affected.
“Over time I think people will lose perspective on what is news,” says Charles Mitschow, a sophomore biology major. “They'll think, and some already do, that things like the royal wedding are more important than things like the war in Libya, just as an example.”
However, some students disagreed.
“I would say we still get the news we need to hear but there is so much unnecessary coverage out there especially with celebrities and tabloids,” says Shannon Shepherd, a junior journalism and mass communication major. “It gets very overdone.”
Some students however still see the quality of news diminishing and this has led to them turning their backs to news completely.
"I have been highly disappointed in the news the past few years," says Piraino. "I think that the news should return to the way it was in the Nineties, with the news giving the public direct access to the important global and national issues."
“I am very disappointed in some of the news content that is covered lately,” says Mitschow. “I personally think that natural disasters and war is more important than two people getting married.”
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