So much of news seems focused on sensationalism. Would be interesting to read a paper that chose stories based on relevance to keeping readers informed, healthy and alive independent of recency:
- Heart Disease continues being the leading cause of death (We interviewed 3 cardiologists and reviewed studies to find what lifestyle changes most reduce this risk)
- US Annual car accidents increase 3% YoY (Talk to civil engineers about where or in what conditions accidents occur most frequently and thus people should be most careful. What other factors make certain people safer drivers than others? What is the relative risk of driving 0, 5, or 10 mph over the speed limit on the highway?)
- Amazon rainforest deforestation continues (show graphs of rates, discuss causes)
- America is using more plastic than ever (show breakdowns of how plastic is used, which uses have the worst ecological impact, etc)
Interestingly, a lot of this content could be "re-runs" - take the same article, maybe add updated data if available, and republish it. Cost of producing content could be reduced.
People believe following the news keeps them informed even though the news distors their world view because it mostly reports on exceptions to the rule (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_bites_dog). "Following the trends" would keep people actually informed as well as provide them with actionable information.
I'm not a legal expert, and I don't know what categories of crimes are in the vast public interest to know about, and which are trivialities best left between you and the judge. But I can imagine there is a level of crime which is of the public interest to be aware of.
Maybe the line is if you are convicted of a crime with a high recidivism rate, like Fraud or robbery. Or maybe it's impact based, such as violent crimes. I'm not sure, but I don't think I could see it being in the public interest to never publish any information about any crimes that are done by people in society. I remain open minded to evidence to the contrary, though.
You shouldn't ruin people lives just to provide the rest of the world with some morbid entertainment, but this really should extend to homicide as well, at least until someone has been found guilty.
None of these stories are important or 'newsworthy', they are purely entertainment.
"Yesterday 31112 people died of cancer, 9346 people fell and broke something vital, 15012 people poisoned themselves, and a handful of people got shot in a really exciting manner somewhere in central Europe."