History Main / IfItBleedsItLeads

The entire reason why MissingWhiteWomanSyndrome exists, as well as the reason why the crimes on most CrimeAndPunishmentSeries are AlwaysMurder. Compare YouCanPanicNow, CouldThisHappenToYou. Contrast HumanInterestStory. When used in fiction, it's often a sign that the news outlet indulging in it is a StrawmanNewsMedia. Has nothing to do with actual trails of blood.

* This trope is invoked by the MyLastShot project, founded by survivors of Columbine. Participants place a sticker on their card, wallet, or phone asking the media to publish images of their bodies if they die in a mass shooting.

--->''The rabid media plays their role\\

For the apocalypse must be televised''

* {{Music/Disturbed}} criticizes this in its song "Legion of Monsters", about how the glorification of murderers in the news only inspires new murderers to do the same thing.

* Referenced by name at the beginning of {{Delain}}'s ''The Glory and the Scum'' ("We all live in unforgiving precarious ways / If it bleeds it leads is all we seem to hear today")

->''"In keeping with Channel 30's policy of bringing you the latest in blood and guts, and in living color, you are going to see another first -- attempted suicide."''

** In ''Film/{{Scream 2}}'', the killer [[spoiler:(at least, one of them)]] planned on invoking this in order to get himself media publicity and a sensational trial.

* This is definitely the belief of Elliot Carver, the media mogul villain of the James Bond film ''Film/TomorrowNeverDies'', to the point that his men actually sink a British Naval ship, massacre its survivors, steal a nuclear weapon (to aim at China) and bring the British and Chinese to the brink of war, all for the sake of broadcasting rights and ratings; it is strongly implied that he masterminds numerous other crimes and catastrophes for the sake of his business as well solely so that his outlet can get the story first, and at one point he even organizes the murder of his own wife and makes a news story out of it. In his own words:

[[http://www.fair.org/media-beat/951213.html Some]] have suggested that coverage like this, focusing on negative stories of war, death, and destruction rather than the positive things that are happening in society, is responsible for [[JadeColoredGlasses making people cynical about the world around them]]. People who watch the news start to feel that [[CrapsackWorld the world is going to hell in a handbasket]], and give up on the idea that society's problems can be fixed. In addition, when the media obsess over violent crimes, deeper problems with society (such as [[http://www.savethenews.org/blog/10/03/11/la-if-it-bleeds-it-leads cities running out of money]]) go ignored, leaving the public uninformed.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': Cassie Arnold decides to take advantage of this to propel her career, by teaming up with a murderer masquerading as a hero in order to get the the grisly scenes of his "rescues" before any other news teams, and often before the action even starts.

** In ''Film/{{Scream 1996}}'', this trope is personified with Gale Weathers, a tabloid reporter who cashed in on the murder of Sidney's mother by writing a bestselling book detailing her alternative theory of the case. In a subversion, [[spoiler:it turns out that she was right, and that the accused killer Cotton Weary was innocent]]. Doesn't stop her from coming off as a sleazeball, though [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold she does get better]] in the sequels.

* This is basically the central moral and title inspiration for [[Creator/MichaelCrichton Michael Crichton's]] ''Literature/StateOfFear''. Around the midpoint, the novel's talking head character goes on about how prior to the 80s words like epidemic and crisis never appeared in news media, but as the ColdWar was winding down the government needed a new thing to control the population through a constant [[TitleDrop state of fear]]. Enter the media to focus on everything negative and spin it into the latest imminent threat.

* Parodied somewhat {{Anvilicious}}ly in a ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' comic where Calvin's father is watching TV proclaiming upcoming coverage of a serial killing, and why a bushfire conflict half a world away should have the average Joe Schmoe "paralyzed by helpless fear". He ends up reading the paper instead.

* In the video game adaptation of ''World's Wildest Police Videos'', one mission has you trying to not only catch a crook, but also evade a persistent news van that's trying to get footage of the stakeout.

->''"In keeping with Channel 40's policy of bringing you the latest in blood and guts, and in living color, you are going to see another first -- attempted suicide."''

* The ''Franchise/{{Scream}}'' franchise:

-->'''Gale:''' Heather, Heather, can you tell us what you're feeling?\\\

* Purposely averted by the news station seen in ''Film/ScaryMovie 3''. Despite the reporter Cindy Campbell urging them to cover the story of the killer videotape in which viewers are brutally murdered by a scary woman seven days after watching it, the station is only interested in covering fluff stories and stuff like breast implants. Then, once they finally become convinced of the tape's existence, they choose to ''play'' it.

* French Canadian daily newspaper ''Le Journal de Montreal'' has never shied away from having its headlines based on the [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal catchy French alliteration]] "Sexe, Sang et Sport" ([[InterplayOfSexAndViolence sex, blood]] and sports).

* A lot of Music/MarilynManson's earlier material is based around this trope. It goes all the way to the band's name, taken from media icons Creator/MarilynMonroe and UsefulNotes/CharlesManson; the stage names of the individual members were each composed of the first name of a popular actress or female figure and the last name of a SerialKiller.[[note]]They included Daisy Berkowitz (Daisy Duke from ''Series/TheDukesOfHazzard'' and David "Son of Sam" Berkowitz), Gidget Gein (surfer girl Gidget from the '60s TV series and Ed Gein), Olivia Newton Bundy (Olivia Newton-John and Ted Bundy), Madonna Wayne Gacy (Music/{{Madonna}} and John Wayne Gacy), Sara Lee Lucas (the Sara Lee food company and Henry Lee Lucas), and [[FaceOfTheBand the titular Marilyn Manson]].[[/note]]

* ''Film/{{Nightcrawler}}'' is about a videojournalist who sells footage of grisly crime scenes to the TV stations to air on their news broadcasts, and is willing to go to any length to get that footage. The film is a commentary on how this attitude warps people, with Nina, the news director at Channel 6, shown to be just as amoral as the VillainProtagonist Lou Bloom. It's even noted in one scene that crime rates in UsefulNotes/LosAngeles are going down, which threatens the bread-and-butter of Channel 6's news operation. This very trope is namedropped in the movie as the actually guiding philosophy of the videojournalist profession.

* The 2016 film ''Film/{{Christine|2016}}'' is a dramatization of the last days of TV news reporter Christine Chubbuck, the provider of the page quote who is described in more detail below. In the movie the manager at Christine's station cites this trope word-for-word when urging his reporting staff to get him juicier stories.

* In ''Literature/AuntJuliaAndTheScriptwriter'', Pascual, one of the news redactors in the radio station where the protagonist works, has a natural liking to this kind of news, and when left alone he fills all the time slot with the most lurid tales he can find. It wouldn't be so bad if he worked in a more low brow station, but since he works in a "classy" one he is reprimanded for this habit very often. Usually his coworkers temper it by reminding him that they ''have'' to include other type of news; but since they also leave the redaction office very often, leaving Pascual alone to his means, the problem only exacerbates.

* The music video for Music/{{Rammstein}}'s "Ich Will" satirizes this trope by having the band portray people literally [[BankRobbery robbing a bank]] for media attention rather than money, and the journalists [[MediaScrum assaulting them with questions]] as if they were politicians or celebreties. It works so well for them that the video [[BookEnds starts and ends]] on them receiving a Golden Camera award for the robbery.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' episode "Gone With the Windstorm", Nancy's news agency seemed more interested in broadcasting her near-death experience covering a forest fire than showing any concern for her well-being. When they find out their news van was on fire, an technician at the station was begging for the camera to show the burning van. When it is seem exploding on camera, the crew cheers.

* The page image comes from a New York Post article and shows a man about die after being pushed into the path of an oncoming Q train at Times Square station. Needless to say, this caused a whole shitstorm of controversy. [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity Although the image did temporarily boost the papers sales.]]

* This trope wound up destroying the career of [[UsefulNotes/TheSilentAgeOfHollywood silent film]] star Creator/FattyArbuckle. When a woman died at a party he was holding, the media jumped onto exaggerated reports that he had raped and killed her (some went so far to say that she had been crushed to death while having sex with him; his nickname "Fatty" was not accidental). Even after he was declared innocent (the jury even apologized for his name being dragged through the mud), he found himself blacklisted from working in Hollywood. He appeared in only one film after the trial, and ended up working behind the scenes under a pseudonym.

* Often a violent attack or death at an event in an can have serious consequences as to whether . For example:
** ''Our American Cousin'', an obscure 19th century play that is only remembered because of the Lincoln assassination.

** John F. Kennedy's ill-fated trip to Dallas certainly would have no historical significance had he not been assassinated there.

* ¡Alarma! was a Mexican news-magazine that specialized in very graphic pictures of traffic accidents, murder victims, as well as [[MurderArsonJaywalking pictures of scantily clad women]].

* In the ''KingOfTheHill'' episode "Gone With the Windstorm", Nancy's news agency seemed more interested in broadcasting her near-death experience covering a forest fire than showing any concern for her well-being. When they find out their news van was on fire, an technician at the station was begging for the camera to show the burning van. When it is seem exploding on camera, the crew cheers.

** While the maiden voyage of the ''RMSTitanic'' gained some fanfare, it wasn't anything more significant than any other maiden voyage of a large ocean liner. The White Star Line already had a near-identical ship already in service and a third sister ship was in the works. While the ''Titanic'' was a modern marvel for her time, she would not have become as much of a cultural icon if it wasn't for the devastating wreck that claimed roughly 1,500 lives.