Why is there so much crime and chaos in the media?

Well, there are a couple of reasons....

First, chaos is more impacting than tranquility.

There are millions of cars that don't blow up every day in Iraq, but it's the ones that do that are news. I'm sure there are a lot of really great things going on in the Middle East, but it's the assassinations, bombings and other associated craziness that threaten the stability of the region and that thus matter to the average American.

Papers and programs could cover only the cute kids and puppies of our efforts in Iraq, but that would be irresponsibly ignoring the negative things going on. In some small town with violence problems, should a paper just ignore what's going on, watch it getting worse and run pictures of flowers or let folks know about the shootings and stabbings and maybe help some changes take place for the better?

I'm sure that following Katrina there were lots of cities that weren't flooded. But just as Patterson Springs didn't really need any Coast Guard choppers rescuing folks from their roofs, the small, dry town wasn't really worth a lot of news coverage at the time, either. The story, the human drama, the need for government accountability and media coverage was in the Gulf, so
that's where I was sent.

That's not to say there's not a place for cuteness and pretty colors in print and on TV, but weighing the importance of covering some genocide versus a cute toddler, nobody's going to die because you didn't get to see that adorable kid.

Secondly, media outlets aren't stupid. They know the numbers.

When we put a video online, we can tell how many folks looked at it. Those nice, charity-feature-warm-feeling-inside vids get a couple hundred views. Max.

But should a news outlet cover a shooting? A fire? The third high-speed LA freeway chase of the week?

Folks say they don't want this stuff, but we're talking thousands of hits.