Sensationalism is a type of editorial bias in mass media in which events and topics in news stories and pieces are overhyped to present biased impressions on events, which may cause a manipulation to the truth of a story.[1] Sensationalism may have reporting about generally insignificant matters and events that do not influence overall society and biased presentations of newsworthy topics in a trivial or tabloid manner contrary to the standards of professional journalism.[2][3]
Some tactics include being deliberately obtuse,[4] appealing to emotions,[5] being controversial, intentionally omitting facts and information,[6] being loud and self-centered, and acting to obtain attention.[5] Trivial information and events are sometimes misrepresented and exaggerated as important or significant and often include stories about the actions of individuals and small groups of people,[1] the content of which is often insignificant and irrelevant relative to the macro-level day-to-day events that occur globally. Furthermore, the content and subject matter typically affect neither the lives of the masses[1] nor society and instead is broadcast and printed to attract viewers and readers.[1] Examples include press coverage about the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky scandal,[1][7][8] Casey Anthony Trial,[1][9] Tonya Harding's role in the attack of Nancy Kerrigan,[1][10] the Elian Gonzalez affair[1][11] and the O.J. Simpson murder case.[1][12]
