There are times when too much death, destruction, in-fighting and political intrigue get to be overwhelming. There is only so much negativity a person can take. We need a break from the latest woes of the day. We need a little fluff in our lives.
What is fluff? It’s the lighter side of the News. It’s a human interest story, celebrity gossip, or just plain old silliness. Call it what you will: “The Good Stuff”, “The Lighter Side” or even “Now For Something Completely Different”, fluff is meant to be a distraction from the gloom and doom that seems to dominate our daily news cycle.
Young reporters are often forced to cut their teeth on fluff before moving on to “hard news”. They are forced to endure reporting on animal birthday parties, the kitten trapped in a tree or even the latest celebrity scandals as they stake out the homes of the rich and famous in hopes of getting a scoop.
People’s thirst for fluff sometimes overwhelms their desire to listen to “real news”. They get wrapped up in the latest piece of juicy gossip, causing them to ignore the actual issues that can impact their everyday lives. They are more concerned about being able to Free Britney than the potential impacts of global warming. They are glued to the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard drama while they ignore the trauma of yet another mass casualty shooting. They wanted to know what REALLY happened to Jussie Smollett instead of the latest Supreme Court decision.
And news outlets are only too happy to satisfy this informational equivalent to “thoughts and prayers”. They know they can capture a certain audience by reporting on the inane, the unusual or even the outlandish. CNN was a fledgling news agency in search of an audience when the world became enthralled with “Baby Jessica”. The 24/7 coverage of this potentially tragic event had people avoiding human contact out of fear that they may miss the moment the child emerged from her ordeal, and whether it would be a triumph or a tragedy.
People become fixated on a missing person, such as Gabby Petito in the vain hope that they might somehow find the elusive clue to their whereabouts. The news is replayed on a seemingly endless loop until it becomes ingrained in the national psyche, destined to become the latest mini series, movie of the week or “based on real events” episode of Law and Order.
It has even spawned a cottage industry of so-called “Reality Television” where people are placed in deliberate peril through contrived situations where they compete for Big Bucks in hopes of becoming the latest media sensation.
Fluff is the hook by which media outlets capture their audience. Sometimes innuendo and rumor replace the facts, but they won’t let them get in the way of a good story. That’s why we will never see an end to this type of “news”. There will always be an appetite for fluff.