Summary Chapter 1 Susan Moeller Compassion Fatigue
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The first two chapters of Moeller's Compassion Fatigue present compelling and convicting evidence of a society who's compassion is stimulated by the latest crisis, and only for as long as its attention span will allow.
Moeller presents us with many quotes from the news media about the stories they cover, and how those stories earn the right to be presented in a public forum. It would be easy to blame the media for not presenting the American public with information that is worthwhile, for keeping the stories of AIDs epidemics in Africa out of the public eye, while playing up the dress that Britney Spears was wearing in the latest celebrity gathering at the Grammy's. This idea seems ridiculous. Certainly the monstrosity of the AIDs epidemic shares consequences of much greater proportion than how stylish any public personality was clothed. So where does the pressure to play one story over the other come from? It seems that it comes from the target audience and the commercialism that dominates the media as of late. The object is not to inform the public as much as it is about informing the public about that which entertains. A news company intending to make a profit will not take the risk of a story not holding the attention of its audience. If a story presents the mere possibility of viewer's turning the channel or picking up a different magazine or newspaper, the importance or urgency of the story can be quickly cancelled out...