Of more than 1,300 articles published online from over 100 magazines, which do you think had the highest readership?
Are you guessing the most popular story had to do with Paris Hilton's recent whereabouts, Brad Pitt's latest tussle with Angelina Jolie, or even Kirstie Alley's latest battle with her weight? If so, then, rather amazingly, you're wrong. The most-read article, according to media research company Affinity Research, was National Geographic's June 2007 cover story, "The Big Thaw: From Greenland to Antarctica." The subtitle reads, "The world is losing its ice faster than anyone thought possible. Can humans slow the melting?"
Isn't that amazing? While the mainstream media constantly criticizes the American viewing public for spending too much time focusing on useless popular culture figures, while simultaneously broadcasting news about useless popular culture figures, people are actually striving to learn about the serious issues concerning our times. It provides an unbelievably strong vote of confidence to find out that, regardless of what we're hearing from the so-called experts and pundits, there is a real pulse beating in the consciousness of the American public-and that, in fact, we're really not as starstruck as the media wants us to think we are.
Without a doubt, statistics are sometimes misleading. However, the fact that a third party research firm was able to determine that a story about melting ice caps garnered more attention than anything written about celebrities means that the threat of global warming is actually being taken seriously by Americans. Of course, the absolute truth about global warming, and what we do with it, remains to be seen. In the meantime, however, a real victory has been won, in that people want to learn more about their environment than any else. Or at least they did during the month of June.
This topic was published as part of the House Media Network newsletter. Read this newsletter in its entirety at www.housemedianetwork.com/newsletter/46</em>
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