Violence and crime have led off news programs for many years. Television news has gone from being a valid source of information, to a source of entertainment. Violence has played a significant part in broadcasting over the past few decades. However, it was not until the past decade that things began to get out of hand. The news is getting worse in terms of violence and entertainment.
Television news is stuck in an ongoing cycle of glamorized violence.
It has become habitual to show crime on the news. Another reason why news directors continuously show violence on the news is that it is cheap and easy. It is much easier for a reporter to find something unfortunate or tragic to cover than to thoroughly investigate a story. A good investigation can take weeks or even months to complete, whereas a crime or unfortunate event can happen at the spur of a moment. Those borrowed by satellite from a city 3,000 miles away are even cheaper and easier.