Ask HN: Does anyone find it strange that sport is part of daily news?

Re:Ask HN: Does anyone find it strange that sport is part of... by awillen on Tuesday February 16, 2021 @11:07AM (#26155205)

The job of the news is to inform people (or more cynically, keep them watching to show ads). Sports are a major topic that a huge number of people want to be informed about. Why wouldn't they be in the news?

There are lots of things in the news that some people don't care about - they report on traffic (or at least they used to) even though many people don't commute. They report on the stock market even though many people aren't invested. These days they sometimes report on Bitcoin and other crypto, even though the vast majority of the world has no interest. Speaking of the world, they report on world news that most people don't care about, because they're only interested in their own country.

The news reports on things that people care about. A lot of people care greatly about sports. Just because you're not one of them doesn't mean it's strange to report on them.

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Re:Ask HN: Does anyone find it strange that sport is part of... by username90 on Tuesday February 16, 2021 @11:23AM (#26155471)

They would be valuable news providers if that was all they did, but as is we can be sure that they only give you the news that attracts readers. Doesn't matter if it is important or not, the dumbest shit will get covered as long as it sells. And important news that doesn't sell doesn't get covered for the same reason.

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Re:Ask HN: Does anyone find it strange that sport is part of... by Machado117 on Tuesday February 16, 2021 @11:29AM (#26155556)

I disagree that the job of news is to inform people. I think that it’s just a possible side effect that they champion in order to keep you engaged.

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Re:Ask HN: Does anyone find it strange that sport is part of... by unreal6 on Tuesday February 16, 2021 @12:23PM (#26156261)

This feels like an incredibly cynical viewpoint. Nevertheless, would you say this also applies to non-profit news organizations like Propublica or forms of public media?

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Re:Ask HN: Does anyone find it strange that sport is part of... by Machado117 on Tuesday February 16, 2021 @12:48PM (#26156588)

This may not apply to non-profit oriented media, and I also believe that in larger outfits you can find individuals that have a genuine goal of informing people but their views happen to be divorced from the true goals of the organisation. However even if they aren't looking for profits they will still have to compete for eyeballs, which might skew their behaviour. It's hard to find media that doesn't resort to clickbait.

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Re:Ask HN: Does anyone find it strange that sport is part of... by awillen on Tuesday February 16, 2021 @12:16PM (#26156184)

Okay, fine, then the job of news is to get people to watch so they can sell advertisements. An enormous number of people want to watch news about sports. The logic doesn't change.

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