We wonder, sometimes, why people don’t care about what’s going on in the world around them or why they’re happy to get their information by running their finger down their phone’s screen every once in a while; why they mistake scrolling for actually being informed. The media cannot deny that it is partly to blame.
Take the weather, for example. We are living in the age of climate change and this often manifests itself in significant natural disasters, making citizens feel at risk and terrified at the idea that floods, storms and mega-fires are now part of life. Admitting this truth is one thing; the insufferably idiotic way that weather events are occasionally treated by the media is quite another. Last year’s Storm Daniel is one thing and an overnight shower in Athens – of the kind we have always had, way before we had even heard of climate change – is another. But looking at the headlines online, you’d think the Greek capital was facing the Apocalypse. The buildup to what turns out to be a rainy night is almost like the buildup to the grand finale of a thriller.
And if all this hyperbole were not enough, we also have to contend with all the bickering and catfights between sundry experts. Meteorologists, seismologists and other authorities in their respective field seem to be perpetually engaged in some sort of sectoral civil war, giving the public the impression that they see every earthquake and every weather system as an opportunity to get the lights on publicity shining on them. They get caught up in public arguments via the mass media that are completely asinine and often cancel them as scientists and professionals. You don’t know whether to laugh or cry when meteorologist X answers to weatherman Y – all the while noticing that the serious professionals who respect their jobs are absent from the “debate.”
And this doesn’t even matter, because all they care about is clicks and likes. If I were a family friend, I would recommend that their phones be taken away before they sink too far.
But here we are. Citizens are sick of the media, but the media also tries their patience with the way it views certain issues and presents them. Shallow and idiotic hyperbole leads, without fail, to apathy and distrust. Because when headlines (and completely meaningless alerts from the 112 emergency system) make you think the world is coming to an end and all there is outside your window is an autumnal shower, it’s unlikely you’ll take them seriously next time.