As a result of its market research, for example, the Chicago Tribune stopped covering the Pentagon. Now, it's 1 out of 20. Today you'll find a celebrity on Time's cover three times as often as foreign affairs. Connecticut's capitol press corps was cut in half. No California TV reporter covers Sacramento as a beat.
Market research says crime is hot.
So the supply of crime coverage increases to meet the demand. The U.S. homicide rate dropped 20 percent between 1993 and 1996, but network news coverage of murders jumped 721 percent. We run it because we're scared to death our competition will run it and beat us. We've always known you can gain circulation or viewers by cheapening the product and now you're finding the bad driving out the good. After years of marketing-driven news menus, more and more people are perfectly happy to tune out.