You have to consider the news as a profitable business. In order for a business to grow and make money, it must serve its purpose effectively. The news aims to gain a large audience. The larger the audience, the more profit made. So how do you attract and retain an audience? Outright stating something that opposes a mass opinion will provoke a number of responses. Either you will hugely disagree with the opposition and think about an argument to prove your point, or you will begin to agree with the opposition, making you feel uncomfortable due to an inconsistency in your own attitudes. As humans like order and understanding, this inconsistent belief may make us feel uncomfortable provoking us to justify the inconsistent thought in order to reinstate order.

Whether we are processing an argument to prove our own beliefs and thoughts, or whether we are simply trying to justify an inconsistent thought to ourselves, we are still actively thinking about a specific topic engraining this into our long-term memory. Now answer me this, as a business trying to engage the reader, would you state something that people will outright agree with and most likely not remember, or challenge them? Most people will also go on to discuss opposing views with their friends, in order to confirm their own beliefs. With the support of others, we relieve this dissonant feeling and reinstate order and comfort into our lives by feeling ‘normal’. We like to have our ideas questioned! This makes us develop arguments to strengthen our own attitudes and aim to persuade others to agree with us.

Why do you think people enjoy reading the daily mail?!