Newspapers deliberately inflame reader prejudice because fear sells copy

Evidence

It (is) all about inflaming the prejudices and playing on the fears of the readership because people want to read this stuff. And it (is) very much that kind of ramp up the fear factor, what people are most afraid of. Stoke their fears make them afraid, make them want to read, make them prejudice, all that kind of stuff. — Nadia Haq, ‘The National Media Just Sees Muslims…, 38

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes Chomsky and Herman’s ‘Manufacturing Consent’ propaganda model — media serving commercial imperatives through manufactured fear.
• FICTION: A newsroom where a reporter is told to ‘ramp up the fear factor’ could anchor a novel about complicity in media machinery — shades of DeLillo’s White Noise air-borne dread.