1. Making the Choice “Our politics, religion, news, athletics, education and commerce have been transformed into congenial adjuncts of show business, largely without protest or even much popular notice. The result is that we are a people on the verge of amusing ourselves to death.” -Neil Postman

4. Focuses on drama, human-interest themes, trivial stories

5. Emphasis on conflict, emotion, evocative visual imagery, interpersonal interaction

6. Disproportionate interest in celebrity, sports, lifestyle topics

8. Ability to cover breaking stories Live

10. Audience as content producer

13. Rise of Politainment – celebrity involvement in politics that capitalizes on popularity to affect voting decisions

16. Not engaged with politics and therefore don’t seek information through hard news sources

18. Simplifies information just enough to inform political attitudes and voting behavior

19. Encourages audiences to judge stories based on morals instead of factual analysis

20. Uses propaganda techniques to create a sense of urgency about issues

22. The rise of infotainment news shows focus more on entertainment than political strategy

24. It serves as a checks and balance system for an increasingly polarized news media

25. It diversifies the news audience by at least raising awareness of issues among the inattentive publicEffects of Choice