information and entertainment Sharmila Farooqi

ADVERTISEMENT Infotainment and social media implications[edit] The topic of news media today being more commonly considered “infotainment” has increased with the growing popularity and use of social media applications. These popular social media outlets are what German theorist Jürgen Habermas would define as the “public sphere.” According to Habermas, it defines a social space (which may be virtual) in which citizens come together to debate and discuss the present issues of their society. The term has been used more recently in the plural to refer to the multiple public spheres in which people debate contemporary issues.[13] In the case of social media websites such as Twitter and Facebook, which were originally created for the purpose of connecting, re-connecting and sharing personal thoughts and information with public, they have now provided a new medium for the spread of "infotainment" and exploitation of public matters. There is no doubt that these social media websites are dominating, and what is so pressing about the matter is the fact that alongside cell phone technology, these ways of online communication are becoming prominent to the simple relaying of informative news. Of necessity, a commodity-based society produces such phantom objectivity, and in so doing it obscures its roots.[14] The public society are relying more frequently on television news broadcasting and now social media outlets to obtain a mixture of information and entertainment updates which are known as "infotainment." Commodity fetishism is the process through which commodities are emptied of the meaning of their production (the labour that produced them and the context in which they were produced) and filled instead with the abstract meaning (usually through advertising)[11] At their worst, the media’s appetite for telling and selling stories leads them not only to document tragedy, but also to misrepresent or exploit it[12] As often seen in the news (with stories of extreme obesity or unusual deformities) present-day "infotainment" commodifies humans through their personal tragedies or scandals, providing entertainment and titillation to public viewers.

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