With my busy schedule it can be very easy to get caught up with school work and lose track of what’s happening around the world. I rarely have time to relax and watch television, but when I do, I make an effort to watch the news. The other day I decided to watch CNN, but instead of getting stories on the latest “important” world events, I listened to a person talk about how badly Britney Spears had performed at MTV’s Video Music Awards. About halfway into the television debate on how much weight Britney Spears had gained, I decided to search other channels for “real” news.

I turned to MSNBC looking for information on some significant global story, only to be disappointed by its coverage of O.J. Simpson being arrested for robbery of sports memorabilia. In my desperation I even turned to FOX News for any story that didn’t entail celebrities doing stupid things. Not surprisingly, FOX News had a story about Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan’s inauspicious behavior and how it affected young women across the nation. After listening to FOX News blame liberals for Paris Hilton’s sex tape and Lindsay Lohan’s DUI citation, I began to realize that the news media had lost sight of their purpose. The news is supposed to inform the public of the happenings around the world that could potentially affect lives but instead was only displaying stories it thought would get the most viewers.

Most major broadcasting conglomerates view their news department as profit based. They make money through advertising. Thus, instead of getting stories about the looming disastrous conflict between Israel and Syria (which some people might find “boring”), you watch Larry King interview Howard K. Stern (Anna Nicole Smith’s former boyfriend and thought-to-be baby’s daddy).

I too am a victim of being interested in what attractive and wealthy celebrities do with their free time and extra money. But there is a time and a place for that. Shows like “Entertainment Tonight” (ET) and “Access Hollywood,” were created to fit that niche. I shouldn’t turn on my local nightly news and see a story about Beyonc‚ falling down a flight of stairs on stage during a Miami performance. Though I will admit that was extremely hilarious (and worthy of countless YouTube viewings), I would much rather learn of the final decisions made about our state budget or whether all Illinois restaurants and bars are to be smoke free.

For the more “business-minded,” profit-based news is the only sensible way to have it. Those in favor of profit-based news believe the most important stories will emerge through companies’ desires to attract viewers. In essence, if more Americans watch more MSNBC because of its coverage on the economy, then FOX News and CNN will also begin to showcase stories regarding the economy.

What these “business-minded” people fail to acknowledge is that the public is sometimes ignorant to what it really wants or needs. Though some citizens are interested in the record sales dispute between Kanye West and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, they need to be concerned about the amount of fake prescription drugs that have entered the American pharmaceutical market from China. These pills are not only deadly because they are making it more difficult for sick Americans to get the medicine they desperately need, but some pills we use actually have toxic ingredients, like lead-based paints, to match the colorings of the pills which they are mimicking.

The news media needs to change their profit-based mentality and adopt an ideology that promotes a desire to inform the public of things that truly matter. There are things more important than the interactions between famous people and law enforcement. But I am also to blame by not discussing things that truly matter and only complaining about those who don’t.