Were you ever annoyed by emotional news stories?

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This is something I've experienced a lot of. I always wanted information and would feel bored of individual emotional appeals.

For instance, let's say a natural disaster happens. The media typically focuses on the tragedy of individuals and personal narratives to appeal to their audience. I get it; it works on most people in terms of generating interest and concern, but I always felt disconnected from that. I'd rather hear some kind of expert opinion on the matter.

It feels like the media is being incredibly manipulative through this kind of technique, especially in matters not relating to natural disasters. I always felt somewhat offended by its use.

A lot of media seems more like an entertainment industry with lots of hyperbole.

I would agree, especially in the United States in particular. There are so many agendas at play and they all use manipulation tactics to coerce the public. It's been happening for a long time, of course, but it's become particularly severe within the past few years.

Actually no.

Never been annoyed by such a story.

Cant fathom why anyone would be annoyed by that.

Its part of the story. Makes it real.

There is a certain thing I remember reading in Newsweek when I was a teen fifty years ago that hit me emotionally at the time that I still remember. But I am not "annoyed" by it.

I actually lost my home, school, and work in a disaster that was quite heavily covered by media here in the USA a few years back. Even to this day I don't know how I'm supposed to deal with people's emotional response to finding this out about me. A lot of them seem to want to convey their emotional reactions to --and I am not kidding-- watching it on TV. Sometimes they will even tell me what they think about the whole thing based on the TV they've watched, oversimplifying the whole issue or saying "why would people live there anyway." -and they tell me I can't read a room.

Other people choose a less wordy, more uncomfortable body language approach: lots of intense eye contact, sometimes a shoulder squeeze. If I'm not careful I get straight-up hugged. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not against a good consensual hug once in a while, but talking about this part of my life is usually not my choice of conversation topic, so when it does come up I feel like what follows is a bit forced upon me.

It's like, please, go get your inspiration porn somewhere else. I am not here to soothe your feelings. I just want to live my life and not be reminded about the worst, scariest part of it constantly.


I guess that was not 100% what the OP was talking about, but basically I consider this to be another side effect of sensationalizing media.

Just to be clear, I'm not talking about news that makes you as an individual feel emotionally engaged. I'm talking about a very specific kind of technique used by the media to use some individual narrating their emotional experiences on camera regardless of the quality of their input.

Yes, sometimes.

I think it is important to humanize tragedies, in a sense people affected aren't just cold numbers, but there is a limit from when it become just exploitation of people's suffering to get audience and it should be balanced with a more technical/impartial view on facts, and people who were directly affected by it most of times can't provide an impartial view.

All news stories annoy me, emotional or not.

I go to The Weather Network to check the forecast, and they always have headlines to videos where they scream out things in capital letters in overly dramatic fashion.

And they have bizarre ways of using adjectives. A couple of months ago they said the fact that it had snowed somewhere in Canada was "inappropriate". And another headline said that koalas may soon become "functionally extinct". What did they mean by functional? What is functional about being extinct?

And of course, when they talk to people who just survived a disaster, they ask the most stupid questions, like how the person feels. "Welp, my entire house was demolished in a hurricane, I don't know where I'm going to sleep tonight, and my kids are still missing. How do you *think* I feel? Good?!?"

Two things that annoy me. The first is how the news media often use the story to push political agendas and sometimes even make up news entirely to do this. (I have personally witnessed this and others I know have). Other times news where one country attacks another they will make it seem that it was the other way around entirely and everyone believes them and does not question things for themselves.

The second is where one has a huge natural disaster but the news does not make it to ones TV sets until weeks later, or the news never gets reported as the countries they happen in are not best friends with the one one lives in. For example, going back a few years Russia had a natural disaster where many lives wee lost. Never appeared in our news. I found it out by accident when internet browsing and it came from news channels in around the world, but not ours. Our news has become so censored and politically motivated to brainwash the public that it is watched for the entertainment value. While watching I say to myself "What are they trying to tell us today?" Rather then "What is today's news".

I agree with your view. I do think humanizing experience is valuable but I'm just irked at how the media goes about it. It always feels slimy and manipulative, but I suppose it does produce results in terms of audience engagement.

I happen to find cold numbers engaging. I feel more strongly from researching the demographics of West Virginia than from watching an elder West Virginian former coal miner lament the decline of his community, to use a simple example.

I just want the facts, not the close-up of some hysterical person crying and screaming about lack of justice in the world. Just present the facts and let me draw my own conclusions; there is no need to influence me with drama.

I don't mind emotional news stories if it's positive emotions. I'm sick of hearing how horrible and hopeless the world is. Even when I try to avoid it, someone always wants to tell me what they saw on the news.