staged events

[mei]

Hi,

Could anybody help me with the underlined phrase snd sentence. I am not quite sure of their meanings.

The determined search for ever larger rating figures, due to the higher sponsorship revenues they could demand, made television news increasingly image-oriented in its drive to attract audiences. An emphasis was routinely placed on staged events, primarily because they were usually packaged by the news promoters behind them (whether governmental or corporate) with the visual needs of television in mind.

Thanks a lot.

 

[MikeNewYork]

Hi,

Could anybody help me with the underlined phrase snd sentence. I am not quite sure of their meanings.

The determined search for ever larger rating figures, due to the higher sponsorship revenues they could demand, made television news increasingly image-oriented in its drive to attract audiences. An emphasis was routinely placed on staged events, primarily because they were usually packaged by the news promoters behind them (whether governmental or corporate) with the visual needs of television in mind.

Thanks a lot.

Image-oriented means concerned about how one looks or how one is perceived. The implication here is that this concern was becoming more important that the news broadcasters primary function. This led to the staged events -- events that were created for television, rather than those that happened narurally.