The response of increasing reader interest is much harder, particularly as what was previously judged to constitute news - the issues that interest journalists which my friend was concerned about in the beginning of this article - simply do not hold the readers as they once did. As noted, there are too many other things to do, and a lot more ways to get information. The general media has reacted by adding more lifestyle items - a noticeable trend for many broadsheets newspapers - plus a helping or two of what can only be described as trivia or gossip, particularly about celebrities.
The interest has always been there, it is just that now there are many more news outlets willing to meet it, or work to uncover it, or invent it. Nicole Kidman was pregnant many, many times in the media before she finally did fall pregnant to second husband Keith Urban.
In other words, in competing for the attention of consumers the bulk of the general media market has slid a little way towards the British tabloid end of the market, with more to come. It is difficult to say just where this process will end, but I suspect that it can only get messier. The closest parallel in recent Australia media history is the battle between the Mirror and the Sun for readers in the dying Sydney evening newspaper market in the 1980s. Both newspapers ultimately lost their battles but towards the end desperation made them shameless.
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That is enough of the serious stuff, so when is Nicole going to have her baby?
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