Narrative and the News: The Permeation and Potential Propaganda of the Storytelling Style through Broadcast Media

In a more competitive news market, television media must compete with quicker forms of mass communication. While the internet has favored an approach based on breadth, television has been left to capitalize on depth. In order to retain ratings, news programming has adopted a more stylized, narrative approach in constructing news stories. However, as television media continues to force news events into narrative form, journalism ethics are increasingly called into question. This paper will explore the development, reasons, and merits of narrative media; ultimately, it will underscore the negative effects of the manipulation of the style as well as its impact on journalism ethics. Additionally, several primary sources will be analyzed to serve as examples of manipulated media. Ultimately, the paper will question narrative form in news; are viewers being entertained or are ethics being ignored