History Main / IfItBleedsItLeads

* Music/RogerWaters' album ''Amused To Death'' is a ConceptAlbum about how [[NewMediaAreEvil television will be the bane of humanity]], and so has several songs about this.

The entire reason why MissingWhiteWomanSyndrome exists, as well as the reason why the crimes on most CrimeAndPunishmentSeries are AlwaysMurder. The ImmoralJournalist is typically one of the most ardent believers in this concept. 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...

--> '''Editor''': So the headline "Subway Fares Raised" becomes "Nude Governor Found Headless In Subway Sewage"
--> '''Miranda''': What about the fares?
--> '''Editor''': You're fired.

--> '''Agent''': Sure, they'll hate you but they'll drive over their own mothers just to hear more about you. By tomorrow, they'll just remember that you're famous.

** "Legion Of Monsters" is [[ProtestSong one big rant]] about how the glorification of mass shooters/terrorists only inspires more lunatics wanting their 15 minutes of fame.

* 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.

* The former page quote came from Christine Chubbuck, a chronically depressed anchorwoman on [[Creator/{{ABC}} WXLT]] (now WWSB) in [[OnlyInFlorida Sarasota, Florida]] who was upset about how the station manager had told the staff to focus on "blood and guts" in their reporting. It was one of the many factors that caused her to [[DrivenToSuicide kill herself]] [[DeadlineNews during a live broadcast]].

* The page quote comes from Christine Chubbuck, a chronically depressed anchorwoman on [[Creator/{{ABC}} WXLT]] (now WWSB) in [[OnlyInFlorida Sarasota, Florida]] who was upset about how the station manager had told the staff to focus on "blood and guts" in their reporting. It was one of the many factors that caused her to [[DrivenToSuicide kill herself]] [[DeadlineNews during a live broadcast]].

->''"In keeping with the WXLT practice of presenting the most immediate and complete reports of local blood and guts news, TV 40 presents what is believed to be a television first. In living color, an exclusive coverage of an attempted suicide."''
-->-- '''Christine Chubbuck''', July 15, 1974, right before fatally shooting herself on live TV

-->-- '''Christine Chubbuck''', July 15, 1974, right before committing suicide on live TV

->''"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."''

* In one issue of ''Joker's Asylum'', ComicBook/TheJoker takes over a studio filming a game show and threatens the contestants with his lethal prank gadgets if they answer the increasingly impossible questions wrong. In the control booth, the producer practically drools over the prospect of the huge ratings this will bring in and refuses to intervene to stop him, ''up to telling his assistant to stall the police''. But when one of the contestants gets a wrong answer, all that happens is that every single toy Joker uses is a perfectly normal novelty toy, so nobody's hurt. Much to the producer's horror, it turns out that the joke was actually on him; the Joker had wired the studio up to broadcast the audio from inside the control booth, meaning that his cynical, callous indifference to human life was [[EngineeredPublicConfession broadcast to all the viewers he'd been desperately trying to keep]]. Who's the real monster: the criminal madman threatening hostages, the cynical producers broadcasting it just for ratings, or [[YouBastard the people watching at home]]?

* In one issue of ''Joker's Asylum'', ComicBook/TheJoker takes over a studio filming a game show and forces the contestants to face the prospect of punishment by Joker's lethal prank gadgets if they answer the increasingly impossible questions wrong. In the control booth, the producer practically drools over the prospect of the huge ratings this will bring in and refuses to intervene to stop him, ''up to telling his assistant to stall the police''. But when one of the contestants gets a wrong answer, all that happens is that every single toy Joker uses is a perfectly normal novelty toy, so nobody's hurt. Much to the producer's horror, it turns out that the joke was actually on him; the Joker had wired the studio up to broadcast the audio from inside the control booth, meaning that his cynical, callous indifference to human life was [[EngineeredPublicConfession broadcast to all the viewers he'd been desperately trying to keep]]. Who's the real monster: the criminal madman threatening hostages, the cynical producers broadcasting it just for ratings, or [[YouBastard the people watching at home]]?

* In one issue of ''Joker's Asylum'', ComicBook/TheJoker takes over a studio filming a game show and seemingly forces the contestants, wired up to sinister-looking contraptions and facing punishment by Joker's lethal prank gadgets if they answer the increasingly impossible questions wrong. In the control booth, the producer practically drools over the prospect of the huge ratings this will bring in and refuses to intervene to stop him, ''up to telling his assistant to stall the police''. But when one of the contestants gets a wrong answer, all that happens is that every single toy Joker uses is a perfectly normal novelty toy, so nobody's hurt. Much to the producer's horror, it turns out that the joke was actually on him; the Joker had wired the studio up to broadcast the audio from inside the control booth, meaning that his cynical, callous indifference to human life was [[EngineeredPublicConfession broadcast to all the viewers he'd been desperately trying to keep]]. Who's the real monster: the criminal madman threatening hostages, the cynical producers broadcasting it just for ratings, or [[YouBastard the people watching at home]]?

* In one issue of ''Joker's Asylum'', ComicBook/TheJoker takes over a studio filming a game show and seemingly forces the contestants, wired up to sinister-looking contraptions and facing punishment by Joker's lethal prank gadgets if they answer the increasingly impossible questions wrong. In the control booth, the producer practically drools over the prospect of the huge ratings this will bring in and refuses to intervene to stop him, ''up to telling his assistant to stall the police''. But when one of the contestants gets a wrong answer, all that happens is that every single toy Joker uses is a perfectly normal novelty toy, so nobody's hurt. Much to the producer's horror, it turns out that the joke was actually on him; the Joker had wired the studio up to broadcast the audio from inside the control booth, meaning that his cynical, callous indifference to human life was [[EngineeredPublicConfession broadcast to all the viewers they'd been desperately trying to keep]]. Who's the real monster: the criminal madman threatening hostages, the cynical producers broadcasting it just for ratings, or [[YouBastard the people watching at home]]?

* In one issue of ''Joker's Asylum'', ComicBook/TheJoker takes over a studio filming a game show and seemingly forces the contestants, wired up to sinister-looking contraptions and facing punishment by Joker's lethal prank gadgets if they answer the increasingly impossible questions wrong. In the control booth, the producer practically drools over the prospect of the huge ratings this will bring in and refuses to intervene to stop him, ''up to telling his assistant to stall the police''. But when one of the contestants gets a wrong answer, all that happens is that every single toy Joker uses is a perfectly normal novelty toy, so nobody's hurt. Much to the producer's horror, it turns out that the joke was actually on him; the Joker had wired the studio up to broadcast the audio from inside the control booth, meaning that their cynical, callous indifference to human life was [[EngineeredPublicConfession broadcast to all the viewers they'd been desperately trying to keep]]. Who's the real monster: the criminal madman threatening hostages, the cynical producers broadcasting it just for ratings, or [[YouBastard the people watching at home]]?

* In one issue of ''Joker's Asylum'', ComicBook/TheJoker takes over a studio filming a game show and seemingly forces the contestants, wired up to sinister-looking contraptions and facing punishment by Joker's lethal prank gadgets if they answer the increasingly impossible questions wrong. In the control booth, the producer practically drools over the prospect of the huge ratings this will bring in and refuses to intervene to stop him, ''up to telling his assistant to stall the police''. But when one of the contestants gets a wrong answer, all that happens is that every single toy Joker uses is a perfectly normal novelty toy, so nobody's hurt. Much to the producer's horror, it turns out that the joke was actually on them; the Joker had wired the studio up to broadcast the audio from inside the control booth, meaning that their cynical, callous indifference to human life was [[EngineeredPublicConfession broadcast to all the viewers they'd been desperately trying to keep]]. Who's the real monster: the criminal madman threatening hostages, the cynical producers broadcasting it just for ratings, or [[YouBastard the people watching at home]]?

* In one issue of ''Joker's Asylum'', ComicBook/TheJoker takes over a studio filming a game show and seemingly forces the contestants, wired up to sinister-looking contraptions and facing punishment by Joker's lethal prank gadgets if they answer the increasingly impossible questions wrong. In the control booth, the producers practically drool over the prospect of the huge ratings this will bring in and refuse to intervene to stop him. However, when one of the contestants gets a wrong answer, all that happens is that every single toy Joker uses... is a perfectly normal novelty toy, so nobody's hurt. Much to the producers' horror, it turns out that the joke was actually on them; the Joker had wired the studio up to broadcast the audio from inside the control booth, meaning that their cynical, callous indifference to human life was [[EngineeredPublicConfession broadcast to all the viewers they'd been desperately trying to keep]]. Who's the real monster: the criminal madman threatening hostages, the cynical producers broadcasting it just for ratings, or [[YouBastard the people watching at home]]?

* In one issue of ''Joker's Asylum'', ComicBook/TheJoker takes over a studio filming a game show and seemingly forces the contestants, wired up to sinister-looking contraptions and facing apparently lethal electrocution if they answer the increasingly impossible questions wrong. In the control booth, the producers practically drool over the prospect of the huge ratings this will bring in and refuse to intervene to stop him. However, when one of the contestants finally gets a wrong answer, all that happens is a harmless little jolt. Much to the producers' horror, it turns out that the joke was actually on them; the Joker had wired the studio up to broadcast the audio from inside the control booth, meaning that their cynical, callous indifference to human life was [[EngineeredPublicConfession broadcast to all the viewers they'd been desperately trying to keep]]. Who's the real monster: the criminal madman threatening hostages, the cynical producers broadcasting it just for ratings, or [[YouBastard the people watching at home]]?

** In ''Film/Scream2'', the killer [[spoiler:(at least, one of them)]] planned on invoking this in order to get himself media publicity and a sensational trial. [[spoiler:The other killer, whose motivations were more [[MamaBear personal]], mocks his motivation as a product of TheNineties before she kills him.]]

* ''The Public Eye'' (1992). Creator/JoePesci plays Bernzy, a 1940's tabloid photographer. At one point someone mentions that guys like him always carry a pin in case they find an abandoned baby. They stick the baby with the pin before taking the picture because the newspapers pay extra for pictures of crying babies.

** Gail Halestorm in the first movie is a parody of the aforementioned Gale Weathers, a reporter for ''Hard Cover'' (a parody of ''Hard Copy'') who heads to the MakeOutPoint in the explicit hopes of filming somebody getting stabbed to death.

** Averted by the Black News van, who only briefly touch on the story, then get the hell out of dodge, since a pretty white woman just died and they're not sticking around to be accused of the crime (or maybe [[BlackDudeDiesFirst become the next victim]]).

* Following the Parkland, Florida shooting of February 2018, conservative news outlet ''[[Creator/BenShapiro The Daily Wire]]'' created a policy to [[https://www.dailywire.com/news/27329/why-daily-wire-will-no-longer-publish-names-or-ben-shapiro never publish the identity of any future mass shooting suspect]] in hopes of [[DefiedTrope defying this trope]]. Possibly inspired by an increasing campaign asking news outlets to stop reporting the identity of mass shooters to deny them their infamy. As a result, several other news outlets either stopped publishing the identity of mass shooters or tried to focus the story on the victims more.

* Website/BabylonBee: Mocked during a period where news media outlets were warning about the possibility of "incel shooters" because of ''Film/Joker2019'': "[[https://babylonbee.com/news/media-horrified-by-lack-of-violence-at-joker-screenings Media Horrified By Lack Of Violence At Joker Screenings]]"

-->-- '''Christine Chubbuck''', July 15, 1974, [[FamousLastWords right before committing suicide]] on live TV