Let's check out the top 25 most emailed articles' list for the last 30 days. This list tells a story about what the readers really are interested in -- as opposed to what the editors put on page one ('most read' would of course be better than 'most emailed' because there's bound to be elements of "show off" in the selection. Yet even this list confirms that people spend more time, energy and mental investments on social life that on policy important subjects). Now, if we take the NYT's own categorizations, the articles add up like this (the full list is copy-pasted below):5 entries: HEALTH
3 entries: EDUCATION, SCIENCE, NATIONAL, and FASHION
2 entries: BUSINESS, and BOOKS
1 entry: TECHNOLOGY, OPINION, TRAVEL, and WASHINGTON
Well, that may not be that bad for public policy concerns you might say: either of these could be macro-oriented. In fact, only about five deals directly with public policy choices -- and only one, number 24 on Washington, deals even partially with foreign policy (actually, its mostly about the role of religion in domestic American politics).
So lets redo the categories and divide the articles into two groups. First group contains those articles with primarily micro-level perspectives, and are focused on familial concerns, spare-time, dream time, couple time, consumer life, etc. Give aways are words like "your cell phone". The second group then contain those that have a macroperspective and are concerned with finding solutions to concrete sets of problems for large groups. The 'rest group' then contains articles that cannot reasonably or without argument be placed in either of the other two groups.
The results are as follows:
FIRST GROUP: 17
SECOND GROUP: 3
REST GROUP: 5
This enormous bias towards the private sphere, interests in gossipy or miscellany subjects is even bigger when accounting for the rest goup entries: three of these five are about children or adolescents albeit with a systemic perspective -- but the article relevance is clearly on the private sphere side. Aggregate result: the NYTimes readers are about 10-15% interested in public policy, and 85-90% interested in their personal lives. Surprising? Perhaps not. Consequential for the status of participatory democracy and general enlightenment? Perhaps. Striking as an illustration of the do-good-conscious classes' limited factual reach? Indeed. Annoying for anyone interacting with NYTimes-readership-like people? Oh, yes.
3 comments:
Just a short comment: the list being a list of 'most emailed' rather than 'most read' is no minor detail.
I'm sure most people are more likely to email news stories that are exactly 'small' and private in nature to friends and colleagues than the big news. Big news are gonna be everywhere in no time anyway, small news might only reach the 'right' recipients being emailed.
A story about your new handbag violating copyrights of a Slovenian designer is most likely to reach you through a friend reading it somewhere. But how many people emailed the NYT story about two planes hitting towers in NY to their friends? My guess: pretty few.
Hi Nissen,
I agree: the difference between 'most read' and 'most emailed' probably is significant. But I think the overall tendency of the picture is so clear as to be disturbing. Whether it says something grand about the end of (elite) MSM as a factor in collective conscience and hence the viability (or poverty) of democratic politics, or more lowscale acout people being fed up with an international conetxt that is baffling and troublesome -- I don't know.
Just to add the lists, ordered and not:
______________________________________________
FIRST GROUP:
1. BUSINESS. Gilded Paychecks: Lure of Great Wealth Affects Career Choices. The opportunity to become abundantly rich is a recent phenomenon in a growing number of professions and occupations.
2. TECHNOLOGY. State of the Art: Free Services to Inspire Your Cellphone. Giving thanks for some of the most exciting services awaiting your cellphone. Better yet, they're all free.
5. BOOKS / SUNDAY BOOK REVIEW. The 10 Best Books of 2006. The editors chose books by Gary Shteyngart, Amy Hempel, Claire Messud, Richard Ford, Marisha Pessl, Danielle Trussoni, Lawrence Wright, Nathaniel Philbrick, Michael Pollan and Rory Stewart.
6. HEALTH. Study Questions Need to Operate on Disk Injuries. People with ruptured disks in their lower backs usually recover whether or not they have surgery, researchers are reporting.
8. NATIONAL. Recreating ‘A Christmas Story’ for Tourists in Cleveland. Fans of the 1983 movie “A Christmas Story” are flocking to a Cleveland street to visit the home featured in the film, which has been restored to its movie glory.
10. BOOKS / SUNDAY BOOK REVIEW. Holiday Books: 100 Notable Books of the Year. The Book Review has selected this list from books reviewed since the Holiday Books issue of Dec. 4, 2005.
13. HEALTH. Red Wine Ingredient Increases Endurance, Study Shows. A drug already shown to reverse the effects of obesity in mice and make them live longer has now been shown to increase their endurance as well.
14. SCIENCE. String Theory: New Approaches to Instrument Design. Some instrument makers and researchers are using science to deconstruct the vibrations and waves at work to create the distinctive sounds of violins and guitars.
16. OPINION. Op-Ed Contributor: My Life as a Dog. Is it even possible, in a city, to provide a good life for a dog, and what is a “good life?”
17. TRAVEL. Choice Tables: The East Is West: The Best Chinese Restaurants in Southern California. The stretch of I-10 known as the San Bernardino Freeway is a hotbed of Chinese cuisine.
18. HEALTH. Essay: When Young Doctors Strut Too Much of Their Stuff. It seems that more and more medical students and young doctors show up for clinical work in less-than-professional attire.
19. HEALTH. For Getting Baby to Sleep, Sticking to a Plan Is What Counts. Experts have a soothing new message: just about all the techniques for getting babies to fall asleep work if used consistently.
20. NATIONAL. Yes, You Can Surf in Cleveland, Before the Brown Water Freezes. In , as temperatures dip into the 20s, Cleveland surfers have Lake Erie almost entirely to themselves.
21. FASHION & STYLE. Is Marathoning Too Much of a Good Thing for Your Heart? After years in which almost no deaths were attributed to heart attacks in this country’s major marathons, at least six runners have died in 2006.
23. FASHION & STYLE. Woman’s Best Friend, or Accessory? Flaunted as fashion statements, pint-sized canines are, to some minds, the fur-bearing equivalent of a pair of Louboutin pumps.
24. SCIENCE. All but Ageless, Turtles Face Their Biggest Threat: Humans. The turtle is one of the longest-lived creatures Earth has known, but at least half of all turtle species are now in serious danger of extinction.
25. FASHION & STYLE. Ouch! My Bag Is Killing Me. Supersize purses imperil backs and clog sidewalk
SECOND GROUP:
3. MAGAZINE. What It Takes to Make a Student. Can teaching poor children to act more like middle-class children help close the education gap?
7. EDUCATION. As Math Scores Lag, a New Push for the Basics. For the second time in a generation, education officials are rethinking the teaching of math in American schools.
22. WASHINGTON. For Evangelicals, Supporting Israel Is ‘God’s Foreign Policy’. Many conservative Christians say they believe that support for Israel fulfills a biblical injunction to protect the Jewish state.
REST GROUP:
4. SCIENCE. A Free-for-All on Science and Religion. Some scientists at a recent conference called on their colleagues to be less timid in challenging teachings about nature based only on scripture and belief.
9. EDUCATION. In Tuition Game, Popularity Rises With Price. Several schools have sharply increased tuition to match rivals, while also providing more financial assistance.
11. BUSINESS / SMALL BUSINESS. The Internet: How to Make Your Web Site Sing for You.Your Web site is like a digital business card, designers say, the first online look at your company that a customer gets. With luck, it will not be the last.
12. NATIONAL. Supporting Boys or Girls When the Line Isn’t Clear. Children who do not conform to gender norms are starting to be supported in their choice by parents and doctors.
15. HEALTH. Troubled Children: Off to College Alone, Shadowed by Mental Illness. For young people with serious mental disorders, the transition to college can be particularly fraught.
WHOLE LIST:
1. BUSINESS. Gilded Paychecks: Lure of Great Wealth Affects Career Choices. The opportunity to become abundantly rich is a recent phenomenon in a growing number of professions and occupations.
2. TECHNOLOGY. State of the Art: Free Services to Inspire Your Cellphone. Giving thanks for some of the most exciting services awaiting your cellphone. Better yet, they're all free.
3. MAGAZINE. What It Takes to Make a Student. Can teaching poor children to act more like middle-class children help close the education gap?
4. SCIENCE. A Free-for-All on Science and Religion. Some scientists at a recent conference called on their colleagues to be less timid in challenging teachings about nature based only on scripture and belief.
5. BOOKS / SUNDAY BOOK REVIEW. The 10 Best Books of 2006. The editors chose books by Gary Shteyngart, Amy Hempel, Claire Messud, Richard Ford, Marisha Pessl, Danielle Trussoni, Lawrence Wright, Nathaniel Philbrick, Michael Pollan and Rory Stewart.
6. HEALTH. Study Questions Need to Operate on Disk Injuries. People with ruptured disks in their lower backs usually recover whether or not they have surgery, researchers are reporting.
7. EDUCATION. As Math Scores Lag, a New Push for the Basics. For the second time in a generation, education officials are rethinking the teaching of math in American schools.
8. NATIONAL. Recreating ‘A Christmas Story’ for Tourists in Cleveland. Fans of the 1983 movie “A Christmas Story” are flocking to a Cleveland street to visit the home featured in the film, which has been restored to its movie glory.
9. EDUCATION. In Tuition Game, Popularity Rises With Price. Several schools have sharply increased tuition to match rivals, while also providing more financial assistance.
10. BOOKS / SUNDAY BOOK REVIEW. Holiday Books: 100 Notable Books of the Year. The Book Review has selected this list from books reviewed since the Holiday Books issue of Dec. 4, 2005.
11. BUSINESS / SMALL BUSINESS. The Internet: How to Make Your Web Site Sing for You.Your Web site is like a digital business card, designers say, the first online look at your company that a customer gets. With luck, it will not be the last.
12. NATIONAL. Supporting Boys or Girls When the Line Isn’t Clear. Children who do not conform to gender norms are starting to be supported in their choice by parents and doctors.
13. HEALTH. Red Wine Ingredient Increases Endurance, Study Shows. A drug already shown to reverse the effects of obesity in mice and make them live longer has now been shown to increase their endurance as well.
14. SCIENCE. String Theory: New Approaches to Instrument Design. Some instrument makers and researchers are using science to deconstruct the vibrations and waves at work to create the distinctive sounds of violins and guitars.
15. HEALTH. Troubled Children: Off to College Alone, Shadowed by Mental Illness. For young people with serious mental disorders, the transition to college can be particularly fraught.
16. OPINION. Op-Ed Contributor: My Life as a Dog. Is it even possible, in a city, to provide a good life for a dog, and what is a “good life?”
17. TRAVEL. Choice Tables: The East Is West: The Best Chinese Restaurants in Southern California. The stretch of I-10 known as the San Bernardino Freeway is a hotbed of Chinese cuisine.
18. HEALTH. Essay: When Young Doctors Strut Too Much of Their Stuff. It seems that more and more medical students and young doctors show up for clinical work in less-than-professional attire.
19. HEALTH. For Getting Baby to Sleep, Sticking to a Plan Is What Counts. Experts have a soothing new message: just about all the techniques for getting babies to fall asleep work if used consistently.
20. NATIONAL. Yes, You Can Surf in Cleveland, Before the Brown Water Freezes. In , as temperatures dip into the 20s, Cleveland surfers have Lake Erie almost entirely to themselves.
21. FASHION & STYLE. Is Marathoning Too Much of a Good Thing for Your Heart? After years in which almost no deaths were attributed to heart attacks in this country’s major marathons, at least six runners have died in 2006.
22. WASHINGTON. For Evangelicals, Supporting Israel Is ‘God’s Foreign Policy’. Many conservative Christians say they believe that support for Israel fulfills a biblical injunction to protect the Jewish state.
23. FASHION & STYLE. Woman’s Best Friend, or Accessory? Flaunted as fashion statements, pint-sized canines are, to some minds, the fur-bearing equivalent of a pair of Louboutin pumps.
24. SCIENCE. All but Ageless, Turtles Face Their Biggest Threat: Humans. The turtle is one of the longest-lived creatures Earth has known, but at least half of all turtle species are now in serious danger of extinction.
25. FASHION & STYLE. Ouch! My Bag Is Killing Me. Supersize purses imperil backs and clog sidewalk
Post a Comment