News and Storytelling in American Culture: Reevaluating the Sensational Dimension

It is argued that the sensational -- characterized by messages that engage the emotions & senses -- is a necessary component of news, & should not automatically be condemned. In fact, without it, the press's self-imposed duty of informing could only partly be fulfilled. To illustrate this, the nature of news as narrative is explored: like all narrative, it has a mythological meaning that transcends information or entertainment, articulating cultural values through narration. News, particularly sensational news, helps audiences mark out & confront the consequences of cultural boundaries. Much of the dislike of sensationalism can be attributed to the fact that we have learned to distrust the emotional response elicited with certain narrative techniques that "serious" journalists disavow, even though the evidence suggests that the traditional informational model is not very effective. In contemporary social science & humanities, a resurgence in the interpretive method, ie, moving the emotional & subjective back into a central position, is evident; implications of this changing cultural climate for journalism are considered. AA