The Public's Eyes: Natalee Plus Celebrities Equals Hits Hits Hits
Last week, we introduced a new feature in which we show you the top stories on CBSNews.com and discuss what we can learn from their relative popularity. The response in some quarters was less than enthusiastic. "I fail to see the underlying wherefore from your stated intent with this type of recurring column," wrote commenter jrpcbs. "I don't think why something gets read is remotely as interesting as why something got written, or written the way it was - or tanked, all of which you have a unique perspective on."
I agree with jrpcbs that why something gets written, or written the way it was, is extremely important. We try to explore those issues regularly on the site. One topic we regularly touch on is stories that don't get as much coverage as they perhaps should – from the Pakistan earthquake to the Oklahoma explosion to Africa. But I also think it's important to understand which stories the public is responding to, because producers look at information about the relative popularity of stories to decide which stories to run and how much prominence to afford them. CBS News is a business that looks to respond to its customers, and it seems to me one can't begin to understand why the news comes out the way it does without understanding what the numbers tell CBS people want.
The story I want to focus on in this installment of "The Public's Eyes" is actually a pretty good example of this phenomenon. But I'm getting ahead of myself. (And I'd be remiss if I forgot to thank commenter eyeswideopen, who suggested "The Public's Eyes" as this feature's name. Well done.) Now, here are the top ten stories from Tuesday:
1. Dems Dent GOP In Off-Year Vote
Win Gov. Races In NJ, Va., & 4 Mayor's Races; GOP Wins NYC, San Diego
2. Radio Host Nabbed In Wife's Death The Early Show
Cops: He Wanted The Insurance Money, So Put Poison In Gatorade
3. Stars Step Up For Natalee
Contribute Items To Fundraiser; Teen Missing Almost 3 Months
4. 'Intelligent Design' Wins In Kan.
State Board Approves Standards That Question Theory Of Evolution
5. Student Arrested In H.S. Killing
Tenn. Vice Principal Dead, 2 Other Administrators Seriously Wounded
6. Scope Of French Riots Narrows
Violence In 115 Towns, Compared To Nearly 300 Two Nights Earlier
7. Prominent Church In Fight With IRS
Criticism Of Iraq War, Bush Tax Cuts Sparks Warning On Tax Status
8. Where's Maria? The Early Show
Shriver Not With Arnold As He Stumps In Election Seen As Vital
9. Terrell Owens Apologizes
Star Receiver Sorry He 'Alienated' Eagles Teammates With Comments
10. Iraq Main Story
Like I pointed out last week, keep the following in mind: Some of these stories were shown in more desirable places on the site than others – and just like a bag of potato chips at the supermarket has a better chance of being picked up at the end of an aisle, a story is more likely to get clicked on if it's in a prominent spot. Also, some stories can be posted more than once – a story you'll see with a "60 Minutes" or "Early Show" tag, for example, might have appeared both on the main page and on the page of those shows. Some stories seemingly randomly get a number of links from other sites, while others get ignored. A few other points, noted by associate producer Gina Pace: Some stories go up earlier in the day than others, and others feature "images that make you want to see what the story was about," which drive traffic.
Now that we've got that out of the way, can you guess which story I'm going to focus on? Yup, #3, "Stars Step Up For Natalee." Natalee Holloway stories are the "Fear Factor" of the news: They get a huge audience, but no one out there wants to admit they're a part of it. But the numbers don't lie – which is why "Fear Factor" is now in syndication. There is nothing new, of course, in the Natalee Holloway case, and there hasn't been for weeks. But when people see the name "Natalee," they click – and if there are "stars" involved, all the better. A story on the missing teen means guaranteed hits and guaranteed ratings, as well as the advertising revenue that comes with them.
For people like me, who are enmeshed in the world of media criticism, the constant hand wringing over stories like this one can be particularly frustrating. Media critics regularly pillar news outlets for focusing on the Holloway story as well as other so-called "missing white woman" stories. I can't deny I cringe a little bit when I see people like Greta Van Susteren yakking on about it show after show, hour after hour. But it seems like if they were going to be intellectually honest, media critics would stop attacking the press and start attacking, well, the public. People want to read about Holloway, and CBSNews wants hits. So the Holloway stories get play. It's a pretty clear business decision. "Frontline," on PBS, doesn't do Holloway because they don't have to worry about ratings or hits. But the majority of the media universe has bottom line considerations to take into account, considerations that, if ignored, could cost people their jobs, and it's a little absurd to pretend otherwise.
That's not to say the media should be focused overwhelmingly on Holloway. But it's tough for me to see why the media shouldn't give people what they want. Frankly – and I know I'm beginning to sound like a right-wing media bias warrior here – the notion that we should ignore these kinds of stories seems to me a little bit elitist. The media has to strive to provide a balance of serious news and the more frivolous stories that drive ratings. Don't they do a pretty good job of that? I don't much care about the Holloway case, but CBS News features a lot of other stories that I do care about. There are channels I can turn to if I don't want to watch Van Susteren going on about the latest missing white woman. There's "The Daily Show" and "Scarborough Country" and "The Evening News" and the New York Times and New York Post and sites all over the Internet providing an incredible range of stories and perspectives. There are some stories that don't get enough play, and as I said above, we've gone out of our way to point some of them out. But the implication underlying media critics' complaints – that somehow all the "missing white woman" coverage keeps curious people from finding out about the more important stories out there – is ultimately kind of ridiculous. Don't you think?