The media: To believe or not to believe?

After discussing the article on 'how microwaves zap germs on sponges', I have gotten to thinking about the media's role and how what they portray as "news" affects our everyday lives. Everyday we see, hear or read about some new pill that is more effective than the other, how a new supplement is more beneficial than another, how this diet is more effective and so on and so forth. Was it the media's fault for not accurately portraying the information on the 'microwave zaps germs' article or was it the readers fault? As a science student I know that I would have put a moist sponge in the microwave without thinking twice about it but the fact that there were so many reported incidents of dry sponges being put in the microwaves and catching fire that it makes one wonder whose fault it really was. At first I would have blamed the people that put the dry sponges in and thought that they were really stupid for doing so but then thinking about it further I came to realize that if my mom read that article she probably would not have wet the sponge or thought that she had to.

We read about new diets everyday and how they are more effective than the first, Dr. Schwarz in "Genie in a bottle" has it right when he says if they actually worked we would not have over 26,000 diets that have failed. It is the media's job to make information readily available to the public, but then comes the part of advertising, what to leave out and what to leave in, in the end its all about who sells the most and what will make the most money. The media is part of a multibillion dollar business industry and they in the end will do what is best for business. One of the key concepts that I have learned from an economics class I took is that information should be readily available and is required for consumers to make the most beneficial choices. As consumers we need to realize that all we hear about may not be the exact truth and before making a foolish decision, investigate a little further, do some backgroung reading and then make a well qualified decision. Then again comes the question of what do I really need to know about. There is so much out there, if I had to do go and research everything I read I would honestly go crazy. For instance a small thing like a sponge which costs a couple of dollars would not have been worth my while looking up.

I personally know that if I ran a business all that would matter to me in the end would be what brings in maximum profit. So can we really blame the media for doing their so called "jobs" or should we as consumers be to blame for all that we don't look into and for making these "silly" mistakes.