Internet news reflects the ignorance of American society

I was surprised, for instance, to find that the lead news headline on Yahoo! was “Surprise picks for “Maxim ‘Hot 100’ List.” It seemed strange that, given the magnitude of current problems in the world, Maxim’s ‘Hot 100’ List would be the most pressing issue on readers’ minds.

Maybe it was just that one article; maybe it was new and seemed important at the time. But the article was two days old and the other top headlines were “Ladies of the 1980s: Top Rocker Divas” and “Jackson’s new sci-fi look.” So my next guess was that Yahoo! was not the right place to find relevant news on the internet. I checked CNN.com, and indeed, there was “hard” news on the front page. It seemed peculiar that Yahoo! would be publishing old celebrity stories as the most important news in the world.

According to Alexa traffic counter, Yahoo!, on average, receives only 70% of the number of American hits that Google receives. However, it gets almost three times as many international hits making Yahoo! the leading international website for current events.

It is despicable that a search engine as powerful as Yahoo! is perpetuating trivial issues instead of highlighting substantial global matters. More people know about the video of Bill O’Reilly flipping out on the set of Insider Edition, than the fact that Burma is expecting another cyclone, or that the world economy has had a dangerously low reported growth of 1.2%, or that gas prices are predicted to peak at $121.25 a barrel.

The video’s popularity demonstrates the skewed nature of the global communities’ priorities.

Many people critique United States media corporations for reporting on “soft” news. But Yahoo! is the biggest website internationally. What causes two people, from separate countries and different backgrounds, to both want to read up on tabloids and ignore world issues?

The Associated Press attributes this phenomenon to the prevalence of depressing news in the world. People simply do not want to have to read about death and destruction all the time. Others say that the internet is for fun. Indeed the internet is widely used for entertainment purposes and relaxation. It is much easier to ignore a problem when we have games to play and videos to watch.

However, the internet is also the largest open forum of multimedia in the world. The internet, by far, provides the easiest and most efficient way to spread information on any topic. Unfortunately, the internet remains an extension of sensational news and eye-catching magazines. Major websites such as Yahoo! need to prioritize the information that they send out to the general public.