Sensationalism is playing up a story in order to attract more people to it. The story could be very important or not important at all.
Sensationalism does cause harm. It hurts the credibility of the media source and can also be harmful to the public.
It is sad when a media outlet leans on a story because of shock value and star power. That's what happens with the pressure to have something on the air 24/7 or to get people to watch the local news instead of Friends reruns. I think it is odd that everyone looks on sensationalism as negative but the media still does it. It would be interesting to see what the general public would say about sensationalism or if they have ever even thought about it. I would say the fact that we are students of broadcast media makes us more aware of what is really going on in the media.
Sensationalism has a negative impact on society. It detracts from the value of issues that could actually impact our lives. It also shines the spotlight on negatives and can even make negative things seem glamorous. In another class we talked about a series the New York World did on the Ku Klux Klan. The World's objective was to take on the Klan and expose all of their wrong doings. In the end, the World played a huge role in taking down the Klan but there were problems. The series was definitely sensationalized. There were full page ads blaring the coming of the articles. The series ran for three weeks straight with huge amounts of readers. With all this success there was a downside. Membership in the Klan actually grew. The World was essentially giving the Klan free advertising. People who had never even heard of the Klan became members. Luckily, the Klan did decline in the end thanks to the World and other newspapers. Like I said earlier sensationalism sometimes has the glamorizing effect on bad things.

News Sensationalism

To start off with, I do believe that sensationalism of our news does hurt the credibility of stories. Come on writers, if you can't come up with an interesting lead to your story so you pump up the hell out of it to make it worth reading, was the story really worth writing in the first place? My definition of news sensationalism is simply this: journalists hyping a story that doesn't need to be hyped. Like I just stated previously, if you can't find a credible news story, or one that doesn't deserve to be in your paper, don't write it. Find something worth covering. Some great examples in current news: there is the obvious Anna Nicole Smith thing going on which is ridiculous. I'm sick of hearing about it. A sports example: the steroids issue in baseball and the linking of all the big name players. Not that I don't acknowledge the fact that they did use them but damn, how much longer must this go on?!!! Whatever happened to good reporting when the stories told themselves and it wasn't the journalists building up to something that belongs in a freaking tabloid?!!!!

YES!

Yes news sensationalism absolutely does hurt news credibility.

For me it makes me feel as if they don't think the story has legs to stand on it's own. So they have to sensationalize it and make it seem sexier than it actually is. Well if they don't think the story is good enough to stand behind and stand on it's own then how good is it? It makes me as a viewer think I'm watching something that the journalist can't even get behind.

And in a lot of cases it isn't warranted and makes mundane stories that shouldn't matter, like Terrell Owens sitting out of practice, into something totally huge. It's like they turn a molehill into a mountain! I can't stand it and it really needs to end.

News sensationalism I think is anytime they take a story and just completely overblow it or enhance one small part of the story that's not even important and try to turn it into something bigger than it is. It happens all the time.

Celeb Blogs

Even though I have to admit I do look at celebrity news blogs and read celeb related magazines, the information in these shouldn't be treated as real news. I don't like when "real" news outlets report celeb news right alongside relevant news. I do think it's OK when it is done on a specifically entertainment related show or even segment. But then again you come to the point where there is a line between entertainment news and celeb gossip. There is a difference between who is nominated for an Oscar and who was at the this weeks hottest night club. Even still there is definitely a huge demand for gossip. I think people are drawn to seeing celebrities out in the real world, sometimes doing things everyday people do. I guess what it comes down to is what is news to one person might not me news to another. News is supposed to be relevant. But I guess when it really comes down to it what is relevant to you is your own decision. Do I leave it up to journalists to decide what is relevant in my life?
Someone below mentioned citing blogs as sources. This is done all the time in the celeb gossip world. I have even seen "real" news outlets citing perezhilton.com or tmz.com as sources. I'm not saying this is right. It just happens all the time.

Celebrity Gossip

Why are we even talking about this in a class called issues in broadcasting. If anyone in their right mind thinks that blogs about celebrities qualifies as news than they do not even know what news is. News is supposed to be relevant and timely. Although celebrity news may be timely it does not qualify as relevant. Then considering we are talking about blogs, I am very disturbed. Blogs although may hold some relevant information, are not a source of news. If a person involved in reporting the news tried to use a blog as a source, the editor or producer would not allow it. Blogs are a new way of distributing information but until they are regulated by a trustable person, I personally will never believe anything I read on them. Blogs are fine for gossip but when it comes to real news then leave it up to real journalists.

Celebrity Gossip Blogs

These things are ridiculous. They do not even need to be mentioned in the same breath as what actually qualifies as news. News is something that should be important to our lives. Who cares who some celebrity is sleeping with or if they got arrested for some reason unknown to us. They should have private lives just like the rest of us. They're no different from any other person on the planet. They just make more money and we see them in the media all the time. Most of the time, like these celebrity gossip blogs, is for the wrong reasons. People, just realize that even if these celebrities actually had private lives and not have every thought recorded in a blog, life will go on. When you see celebrities being portrayed on so-called "reliable" news networks and calling these things news stories, it's absolutely ludicrous. I think the perfect example is the whole Anna Nicole Smith thing. I mean good lord, drop it already. She's gone and she isn't coming back. Quit talking about it!!!!!

Heck no.

Celebrity gossip blogs do not meet my definition of news.
I think there is a horrible obsession in this country with celebritys. I don't care what they're doing in their personal lives! They're people just like you and me! They put their pants on the same way we do! Who cares who they're sleeping with or what they're doing in their personal life?
I think this country needs to stop it's obsession with the hollywood celebrity and quit putting them on a plateau above everyone else.
Unfortunately celebrity gossip blogs do just this. But it's not news. What they do does not affect my life in any way shape or form. Most news affects someone's life somewhere. But what happens to a celebrity really only affects them.
These sites are not reputable. They're akin to a high school gossip session. It reminds me of a bunch of girls in high school passing rumors around.