In the month of January when gas prices tumbled to record-setting lows, President Barack Obama delivered the State of the Union and both Saudi Arabia and Yemen saw changes in political leadership. Like always, important headlines take center stage during news broadcasts for a few days and then slip into the final pages of newspapers and into the back of our minds. However, one story remained in the spotlight over the course of a two week period during that month: Deflategate.
It is no secret that sports are an enormous part of American culture, but I was surprised that many people who I know that do not follow sports were aware that the New England Patriots were accused of cheating and deflating their footballs during the AFC Championship game. Although the Patriots are one of the most popular teams in the NFL, I was still shocked that the story was featured on national news broadcasts for almost half a month.
I know it might be hypocritical for the Sports Editor to be skeptical about the fact that a sports story was featured as a part of mainstream media, but I believe that there are more important things that the news needs to dedicate its time and space to. Sports are merely a form of entertainment and it does not deserve the attention that we as a society give it.
In many high schools across the United States, teachers urge their students to watch or read the news on a consistent basis, some even making it a requirement. However, the fact that students are watching the news does not mean they are becoming more informed. Major broadcasters need to select more political, economical and international storylines and shy away from reporting sports and entertainment. For example, China announced that it will hold a large-scale military parade and scientists announced they might be able to formulate a vaccine for the Ebola virus on Jan. 27, but the top two stories I found on front pages were about the possibility of a Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao fight and how cute puppies were going to be featured in a Super Bowl advertisement.
I’m not trying to say that people should ignore sports and entertainment; I’m suggesting that they should not hog the attention that needs to be given to stories about what’s happening in congress or how ISIS is slowly taking over Europe. We tend to focus so much on these stories from the sports and entertainment world that we forget about issues that came in the recent past that have been resolved. When I searched Google for “Paris,” I had hoped to see current updates on the Charlie Hebdo shooting but got information about how Kendall Jenner went braless in a sheer shirt for the Chanel Paris show instead.
The major news networks need to focus on serious issues and leave sports and entertainment to ESPN and E! Just concentrate on how hostages are being executed and beheaded in the Middle East and let smaller networks handle Tom Brady and the Kardashians.