News media outlets, by and large, focus on the
highly visible. They display whatever information
they can convey with gripping stories and lurid
pictures, and they systematically ignore the subtle
and insidious, even if that material is more
important. News grabs our attention; that’s how
its business model works. Even if the advertising
model didn’t exist, we would still soak up news
pieces because they are easy to digest and
superficially quite tasty.
The highly visible misleads us.
Take the following event. A car drives over a
bridge, and the bridge collapses. What does the
news media focus on? On the car. On the person
in the car. Where he came from. Where he
planned to go. How he experienced the crash (if
he survived). What kind of person he is (was). But
– that is all completely irrelevant. What’s
relevant? The structural stability of the bridge.
That’s the underlying risk that has been lurking
and could lurk in other bridges. That is the lesson
to be learned from this event.
As a result of news, we walk around with the
completely wrong risk map in our heads.
Terrorism is overrated. Chronic stress is
underrated.
The collapse of Lehman Brothers is overrated.
Fiscal irresponsibility is underrated.
Astronauts are overrated. Nurses are
underrated.
Britney Spears is overrated. IPCC reports are
underrated.
Airplane crashes are overrated. Resistance to
antibiotics is underrated