Many of you reminded me yesterday that news is depressing and scary because that’s what sells to readers.

Rebecca MacKinnon, a former CNN reporter, told the Columbia Journalism Review,

As it was put to me, you’re fighting with Fox for every fifteen seconds of airtime. You’re trying to put on whatever is the most titillating, gripping stuff to keep people from changing the channel. What that means is that if there is something that one thinks the American public needs to know, but it is not as sexy as Michael Jackson, then they’ll go with Michael Jackson.

I’ve completely given up on popular mainstream media like CNN, Time, Discovery, or Reader’s Digest. I prefer instead sources that provide more in-depth reporting and which don’t talk down to its audience, such as The Atlantic, Scientific American, and smart blogs.

Personally, I wouldn’t care if I never saw another picture or story about Michael Jackson again. And who ever said Jackson was sexy?*

*I know she was not speaking specifically of Michael Jackson.