Does the Media Report the News or Create It?

 

There were two stories that are dominating the news these days:

1. State of South Carolina v. Richard Alexander Murdaugh is an ongoing American criminal case in the fourteenth circuit of the South Carolina Circuit Court in which Murdaugh is accused of the murders of his wife and their 22-year-old son in June 2021.

Every day since the trial began this story has dominated the news.  There are likely hundreds of murder trials ongoing in the United States today.  Why does this story get so much media attention?  Richard Murdoch is not a celebrity or an elected official.  Whenever this story comes on the TV news, I turn off the TV.

        2, The British Royal Family.  I can understand them making news in the U.K., but why should the American public be concerned about the entire family?  The big story today is that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been asked to leave Frogmore Cottage, their home in the UK.  Who cares?  How does this affect the American public?  King Charles III who is the most important Royal gets little attention from the press.